Deniece Jordan-Walker

Deniece Jordan-Walker is an accomplished legal counsel and principal of a former financial advisory firm registered with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.  A principal at Hardwick, Deniece strategically negotiates and drafts financing documents required to close multi-million bond financings for major U.S. state and local government issuers, Wall Street and regional investment banking firms, and corporate issuers on such things as drafting preliminary and final official statements, bond purchase agreements, and continuing disclosure undertakings.  She also analyzes complex primary and secondary-market disclosure and bond-security issues, all while serving as a zealous advocate and deal partner to her clients.

Deniece has more than 30 years’ experience analyzing, structuring and documenting complex transactions in the areas of project development finance, economic development, government and corporate finance, and international trade.  Deniece has a proven ability to negotiate a tough deal, find innovative solutions and work effectively with government and private participants on complicated public/private or “P3” financings and projects.

Deniece has served as a legal and financial advisor to major U.S. state and local government and corporate clients on the issuance of more than $3 billion bonds, Social Impact Bonds and other credit financings for a wide range of economic development projects, including public infrastructure improvements; hotel, sports facilities, affordable housing, industrial, and retail projects; schools and public park improvements; and rail, bus and airport transportation developments. Deniece also negotiates, structures, and closes deals for Fortune 500 finance, energy, banking and real estate development companies on investment real estate sales and acquisitions, developments, and business arrangements such as joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and asset purchase transactions.  Deniece will also counsel her corporate client on seminal legal issues, such choice of entity structures and business relationships.

Spanning inception to completion, Deniece is a go-to professional.  Many of the projects on which Deniece provides legal leadership are catalytic and nationally known.  By combining her substantial expertise as a lawyer with her acumen as a financial advisor, Deniece steps in early to provide strategic planning and leadership to her clients, and her ongoing skill and authority is central to successful project implementation.  The results of her service are enduring:

• Legal counsel to the City of Chicago, O’Hare International Airport, and Midway Airport on over $1 billion Airport Revenue Bonds and Airport Revenue Refunding Bonds that enabled Chicago to make improvements to runways and other critical airport improvements at O’Hare and Midway.
• Legal counsel and financial advisor to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport on over $500,000,000 of airport bonds for improvements to runways and other critical airport improvements.
• Financial advisor and legal counsel to St. Louis and Chicago on structuring, documenting and closing over $1 billion economic development projects ranging from the St. Louis Cardinals Ballpark Village and IKEA to Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center.
• Legal counsel and financial advisor to Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles on over $100 million of multi-layered financed affordable housing projects constructed or rehabbed for families and seniors.
• Lead counsel to the City of St. Louis on $98 million hotel convention center complex.
• Legal counsel and financial advisor to the Chicago Park District on structuring, documenting and closing over $800 million of general obligation and alternate revenue tax bonds to finance capital improvements to parks, including Chicago’s Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park.
• Legal counsel and financial advisor to the City of Chicago on structuring, documenting and closing over $1 billion of general obligation, wastewater, and water and sewer bonds for repairs to streets and its water and sewer systems.
• Financial advisor on the financing and programmatic structure of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust established to finance energy efficiency and other public infrastructure projects.
• Legal counsel and financial advisor to the Chicago Transit Authority on structuring, documenting and closing over $1 billion of its Capital Grants Receipts Revenue Bonds and railcar acquisition lease purchase for the purchase of several railcars and buses needed to attain a state-of-good repair, without depleting federal formula funds.
• Legal counsel to the City of St. Louis on multi-layered, complex development projects, using the Efficiency Loan Program utilizing Energy Conservation Bonds, to provide low-interest loans to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Initiative, and city residents.

Even the beginnings of Deniece’s legal career are rooted in leadership. Deniece was the first African American Editor-in-Chief of Case Western Reserve School of Law International Law Journal and Canada-US Law Journal, and after law school, she served in the prestigious role as a federal judicial law clerk in the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  While at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, she authored Settlement of the Namibian Dispute: The United States Role in Lieu of U.N. Sanctions 14 CASE W. RES. J. INT’L L. 543.  Currently, Deniece authors content in publications such as the Multi-Housing Executive, Affordable Housing Finance, and Multi-Housing News, thus continuing her long-standing practice of contributing to the legal field through education.