Brenda M. McDonough

Brenda serves as bond counsel to numerous municipalities across New England and the state of New Hampshire, facilitating the issuance of tax-exempt bonds for financing governmental capital projects. She assists cities, towns, and districts through all phases of the borrowing process, including drafting proceedings, advising on permissible financing structures, and federal tax matters, and preparing disclosure materials and closing documents.

Brenda’s clients include hundreds of cities, towns, school districts, and special purpose districts, as well as the state of New Hampshire. She has extensive experience with general obligation bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, tax-exempt lease obligations, and revenue anticipation notes. Brenda serves as bond counsel to regional transportation authorities in Massachusetts in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt revenue anticipation notes. She also has extensive experience in the issuance of governmental bonds for drinking water and sewer projects and serves as bond counsel to the Narragansett Bay Commission in Rhode Island.

• Serves as bond counsel to hundreds of cities, towns, school districts, and special purpose districts throughout New England, facilitating the issuance of general obligation bonds and notes for municipal purposes, qualified energy conservation bonds, and other tax-benefited bonds, tax-exempt lease obligations, and tax and revenue anticipation notes.
• Advises the state of New Hampshire on the issuance of general obligation bonds, commercial paper bond anticipation notes, turnpike system revenue bonds, tax-exempt lease obligations, and revenue anticipation notes, ensuring compliance with state law and federal tax laws and regulations, and assists the state in the preparation of official statements and other disclosure.
• Serves as bond counsel to regional transportation authorities in Massachusetts, advising on the issuance of tax-exempt revenue anticipation notes to provide necessary working capital for operations.
• Counseled multiple municipalities on the issuance of qualified energy conservation bonds, enabling them to finance energy-efficient projects and reduce long-term operational costs.
• Assisted various cities and towns in navigating complex borrowing processes, including drafting proceedings, advising on permissible financing structures, and preparing disclosure materials and closing documents.
• Guided municipalities by serving as bond counsel for the issuance of tax and revenue anticipation notes to manage cash flow and operational needs when faced with budget deficits.
• Advised municipal clients on federal tax matters related to tax-exempt bonds, ensuring compliance with IRS regulations and optimizing the tax benefits of their financing arrangements.

• The Best Lawyers in America®: Public Finance Law (2025-2026)