Bryan Cave issued the following announcement on Oct. 22.
The international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP announced that Timothy G. O’Connell has rejoined the firm as an associate in the Financial Services and Real Estate Groups. He will reside in the St. Louis office.
O’Connell has worked in the public sector for the past three years, most recently as chief of staff to the mayor of the city of St. Louis, and previously as legal counsel to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Before working for the city, he worked as a litigator at Bryan Cave LLP, focusing on complex cases as part of the firm’s Class Actions Group.
O’Connell will advise public and private companies, banks and other financial institutions, nonprofits and governments on financial services and real estate transactions. He has experience advising clients on numerous legal matters, including redevelopment agreements, tax incentives, the formation of special taxing districts, public-private partnerships, and complex and high-stakes litigation. He also has experience advising clients on Missouri campaign finance and lobbying laws and in drafting legislation on diverse subjects.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, O’Connell worked in journalism for a decade at The Washington Post and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Tim is an outstanding lawyer with unique and rare experience that will bring value to the firm and our clients,” said Karen Fries, global co-leader of the firm’s Structured Finance Practice.
Jim Buell, co-leader of the firm’s Real Estate Practice, said that O’Connell’s extensive government experience is a great asset. "We look forward to Tim helping clients navigate both private and public spheres,” he said. “With new vehicles for investment, such as the federal opportunity zones, his public sector experience brings tremendous benefit.”
Buell and his colleagues stand ready to help clients interested in deferring capital gains by investing in developments within the thousands of opportunity zones designated by the U.S. Treasury across the country. Under the program, investors can defer tax on any prior gains until Dec. 31, 2026, so long as the gain is reinvested in a qualified opportunity fund, an investment vehicle organized to make investments in qualified opportunity zones.
O’Connell received his law degree in 2009, cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1997.
Original source can be found here.