Stoel Rives Partner Honored for Service to Oregon Municipal Debt Advisory Commission
12/27/2007

CONTACT: Kristen Leis, Business Development Manager, (503) 294-9343

PORTLAND- The law firm Stoel Rives LLP is pleased to announce that Ed Einowski, a partner in the firm since 1985, was recently honored by the State Treasurer's Office and the Municipal Debt Advisory Commission for his eight years of service as a member of the commission.

Oregon's Municipal Debt Advisory Commission provides technical assistance to local governments and state agencies to improve the market for bond issues in Oregon. Einowski was appointed by Governor Kitzhaber in 1999 and reappointed in 2003.

State Treasurer Randall Edwards presented a plaque to Einowski, noting that during his long years of service on the commission and in working as bond counsel to various Oregon governments, he had become "an institution" of Oregon governmental finance. Among other contributions as a member of the commission, Einowski initiated a comprehensive rewrite and modernization of Oregon's public finance laws and served on the Oregon Law Commission committee that drafted the new laws and helped marshal them through the legislature, where they were enacted in the last session.

In accepting the honor, Einowski said, "My work provided a wonderful opportunity to serve the people of the state of Oregon. Work of this nature that advances the public interest is one of the most satisfying undertakings an attorney can embark upon."

Einowski's law practice focuses on project finance and development. During his more than 20 years with Stoel Rives, he has represented developers, investor-owned utilities and their unregulated subsidiaries, biofuel producers, investment banking firms, commercial banks and other financial institutions, and state and local governments. Among his accomplishments are a number of firsts in the field of project financing: using taxable municipal bond financing for a major ethanol plant, using a chapter 190 intergovernmental entity in Oregon to finance an electric generating plant at a paper mill (the output of which is used by two municipal utilities), and conceiving and drafting the Oregon statutes that provided for the first rated bonds backed solely by state lottery revenues to finance the state share of the Portland-area Westside light-rail extension. Additionally, he developed the framework and created the necessary financing vehicles for the public-private partnership that resulted in the light-rail extension to the Portland airport. Einowski earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where he graduated with honors.

"We're very proud to see Ed get this recognition," said Wally Van Valkenburg, Managing Partner of the Portland office. "His willingness to serve on the commission while maintaining a very successful law practice is in keeping with the firm's culture of giving back to the community."

About Stoel Rives LLP: Stoel Rives is a business law firm providing counseling and litigation services to a wide range of clients throughout the United States. The firm has more than 350 attorneys operating out of 11 offices in seven states. Stoel Rives is regarded as a leader in energy, natural resources, environmental, litigation, corporate and intellectual property law. For more information, visit www.stoel.com.