Dilworth Paxson Welcomes Tim Carson to its Growing Public Finance Practice

Dilworth Paxson LLP is pleased to announce that Timothy J. Carson has joined the firm as a partner and newest member of its growing public finance practice. Carson will work out of the firm’s Philadelphia office.

Tim Carson has more than three decades of experience in public finance law, serving as bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, and special counsel in the financing of a wide variety of public projects, including schools, airports, water and sewer systems, highway, toll road, and transit facilities, open space acquisition and preservation, health care institutions, commercial and industrial development, urban redevelopment, ports, housing, student loans and solid waste disposal/resource recovery facilities.

Carson is an elected fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel, one of only 150 bond lawyers nationally to be so recognized. Over his career, he has represented more than 100 Pennsylvania local government units and state agencies as special counsel for public finance matters, as well as many financial institutions that provide funding to public entities for infrastructure projects. In many of these engagements, he has played a leading role in formulating and advancing innovative financing strategies.

Carson has had unique experience in Pennsylvania transportation matters, both as a lawyer and as a public sector board member. He is a former board chairman and Pennsylvania counsel for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the federally designated bi-state metropolitan planning organization for the nine-county Philadelphia region. As Governor Tom Ridge’s appointment, Carson served as commissioner and vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission from 2003 to 2010, overseeing the administration of the 559-mile toll road system.

Carson was the co-draftsman of the Pennsylvania Transportation Partnership Act of 1985 and was the original draftsman of the legislation which became Act 88 of 2012 (the Pennsylvania Public-Private Partnership Law). He has lectured extensively at national transportation and public finance conferences and symposia on the use of public-private partnerships and other innovative financing structures in the development of public infrastructure.

When asked why he joined the firm, Carson said, “I was attracted to Dilworth because of its reputation and extensive public-sector and infrastructure development experience. I look forward to continuing the growth of my practice and delivering excellent client service at Dilworth Paxson. I am excited to be a part of a growing and dynamic public finance practice.”

Public finance practice chair, Marc Feller commented: “We are excited to have Tim join us. With over 35 years of experience in the public finance area including his focus on public-private partnerships and other creative financing strategies, he will provide a valuable addition to our current practice, especially with the acute financial challenges now facing the public sector.”

The addition of Tim Carson marks a period of continued growth for the firm’s public finance practice. In August 2012, former Pepper Hamilton public finance attorneys Timothy B. Anderson, Elizabeth Preate Havey, and Andrew C. Maher joined the practice group.

“Tim’s expertise is an excellent complement to our public finance practice, which is a growing component of the full spectrum of representation the firm offers in public-sector matters,” commented “Joseph H. Jacovini, Chairman of the firm. “We are delighted to welcome an attorney of his caliber and reputation to our firm.”

Carson is a former president of the 28,000-member Pennsylvania Bar Association (2002-03) and former president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He has long been active in the Republican Party, serving as Pennsylvania Republican State Finance Chairman, a delegate to three different Republican National Conventions and on the transition teams for former Governors Rendell and Ridge. Prior to joining Dilworth, Carson worked in the public finance practices of Drinker Biddle and Reath and Saul Ewing where he chaired the Public Finance Department.