Norton Rose Fulbright secures victory for City of Austin’s convention center bond

A team of Austin -based public finance and litigation lawyers at Norton Rose Fulbright secured a significant victory for the City of Austin when a District Court in Travis County, Texas issued a favorable ruling validating US$1.35 billion in special tax revenue bonds for the Austin Convention Center project.

The ruling, issued under Texas' Expedited Declaratory Judgments Act, confirms the legality and validity of the bonds and related authorizations. The court granted the city's petition in full and imposed a permanent injunction preventing any future legal challenges to the bonds or their authorization.

This decision enables the city to move forward with financing the Austin Convention Center project, a transformative initiative that will support economic growth and development in Austin. The bonds remain subject to final approval by the Texas Attorney General in accordance with standard review procedures.

"The court's decision paves the way for the city to move forward on a transformational project expected to generate significant and lasting economic impact for the community," said Paul Trahan, Norton Rose Fulbright's Austin Partner-in-Charge who led the firm's representation. "With this ruling, a key hurdle has been removed for one of Austin's most significant development efforts."

Norton Rose Fulbright's global litigation and disputes team advises many of the world's largest corporations and financial institutions on complex, high-value and sensitive multijurisdictional disputes. It is one of the largest disputes legal practices in the world with significant experience resolving domestic and cross-border mandates, international arbitrations and investigations and enforcement for clients across key industries.

The firm's public and government finance lawyers represent key players throughout the world's government debt markets, including the US municipal securities market. Working in tandem across public and government finance, banking and finance, projects and public-private partnership practices, Norton Rose Fulbright plays an important role in financing public infrastructure and acquisition of goods for the public sector as well as private projects eligible for financing assistance.

Norton Rose Fulbright's team was led by Paul Trahan and Stephanie Leibe and included Emily Wolf and Kayla Ahmed (Austin).