Kutak Rock is pleased to announce that respected Denver lawyer Penfield W. Tate III has joined the firm’s national public finance practice. Tate’s arrival strengthens Kutak Rock’s reputation as one of the largest and most active bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel firms in Colorado, as well as the nation. He will work with the firm’s 120-plus public finance attorneys to deepen and expand the firm’s relationships and pursue new projects nationwide. Tate will be resident in Kutak Rock’s Denver office.

Tate joins Kutak Rock from the firm of Greenberg Traurig, where he served as a shareholder and head of that firm’s Denver public finance group. He brings to Kutak Rock nearly three decades of wide-ranging experience representing public entities, lenders and underwriters engaged in the process of financing essential public improvements, and advising local and state governments in the exercise of their administrative responsibilities.

For more than 25 years, Tate has served as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel for financings by public entities throughout Colorado and elsewhere, which aggregate to more than $16 billion.

Kutak Rock has been listed among the most active bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel firms in the nation since such statistics were first compiled, and most recently ranked first in Colorado for Bond Counsel by The Bond Buyer. (Southwest Midyear Annual Review, October 18, 2015.)

“We are pleased that Penfield has chosen to join Kutak Rock’s public finance group,” remarks Bob Irvin, Managing Partner of Kutak Rock’s Denver office and the Vice Chairman of the firm. “He brings extensive experience and deep relationships to our practice, further strengthening the firm’s reputation as a leader in the industry, capable of handling complex and high profile projects in Colorado and across the nation.”

In government, Tate has served in both the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives. He has served as executive director of the Department of Administration for former Governor Roy Romer, as well as on both the State of Colorado Banking Board and the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. As an aide to former Denver Mayor Federico Peña, he represented the mayor's office on issues involving airport finance, business and economic development and housing development.

Deeply committed to the business and civic communities, Tate is a board member at many professional and community organizations, including the Bell Policy Center and Ability Connection Colorado (formerly known as Cerebral Palsy of Colorado). In 2011 he was reappointed by Mayor Hancock to a second term as vice president of the Denver Board of Water Commissioners. A frequent speaker on issues of public interest and a regular panelist on Channel 12's political talk show Colorado Inside Out, Tate has presented on topics related to civil rights, diversity and inclusion, economics, academics and leadership. During his term as Senator, his sponsorship of anti-hate-crime legislation earned him the Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Award in 2003.

Tate received a B.A. in Sociology from Colorado State University, and earned his J.D. from the Antioch School of Law (now the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law). He is admitted to practice in Colorado, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been selected to the Colorado Super Lawyers® list.