Diego R. Figueroa has represented public issuers and underwriters in over 45 taxable and tax-exempt financing transactions involving the issuance of over $19 billion of general obligation, revenue, lease-revenue and asset-backed bonds. He has represented issuers in areas related to the financing of the following facilities: electric power, highways and transportation, water, aqueducts and wastewater, ports, housing, infrastructure, public buildings, industrial, tourist, educational, medical and environmental control. These financings have involved multiple types of financing structures, including various modes of credit enhancement, insurance, swaps, interest rate hedges, auction rate securities and tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds. Mr. Figueroa has also prepared legislation, executive orders, by-laws and regulations in connection with financing transactions. He is a member of the firm’s Finance & Financial Institutions, Public Finance, Transactional & Securities, Latin America, and International Practices.
Mr. Figueroa has served as financial and legal counsel to the president of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico in a wide range of issues related to the formulation and establishment of public policy, including the design of alternative strategies for the financings offered by the bank related to taxable and tax-exempt bonds, privatization projects and reorganization of government agencies. He served as counsel to governmental agencies in general legal, business and financing matters, including special projects such as the sale by the government of its ownership in a telecommunications company. Additionally, he has worked with major real estate developers in the financing, design and construction of real estate projects and has studied Chinese law at Renmin University of China, School of Law in Beijing.
Significant Representations
- Bond counsel to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the issuance of over $6 billion of public improvement/refunding bonds, and tax and revenue anticipation notes.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority in the issuance of over $80 million of revenue bonds, USDA/rural development issues.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority in the issuance of over $2.4 billion of transportation revenue/refunding and special facility revenue bonds to finance the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority in the issuance of over $1 billion of special obligation bonds.*
- Bond counsel to The Children’s Trust Fund in the issuance of over $1.5 billion of tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Public Finance Corporation in the issuance of $390 million in bonds to finance the Super-Aqueduct Project.*
- Bond counsel to the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico in the issuance of $2.8 billion of commercial paper notes.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Municipal Finance Agency in the issuance of over $1.3 billion of new and refunding bonds.*
- Bond counsel to the University of Puerto Rico in the issuance of $200 million of university system revenue bonds.*
- Bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel to the Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority in the issuance of over $385 million of educational facilities revenue bonds, higher education revenue bonds, hospital revenue bonds, cogeneration facility revenue bonds, environmental control facilities revenue bonds and industrial revenue bonds.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in the issuance of over $2.5 billion of power revenue/refunding bonds.*
- Bond counsel to the Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority issuance of over $1.5 billion of government facilities revenue/refunding bonds.*
- Lead government representative in the negotiations and sale of the remaining ownership of the Government of Puerto Rico in the Puerto Rico Telephone Company to a foreign telecommunications company and the sale to various parties of its remaining assets.*
*The above representations were handled by Mr. Figueroa prior to his joining Foley & Lardner LLP.
In 2012, Mr. Figueroa was recognized by the Legal 500 for his structured finance work. He was also nominated and became a finalist in the Daily Business Review’s list of “2012 Top Dealmakers of the Year.” Mr. Figueroa was selected as a "20 on the Move" honoree by Boston Business Journal and received the "Attorney's Title Insurance Fund, Inc." award as well as the Urban Land Institute's "Urban Plan First Prize" award. He is an Inns of Court member and a recipient of the Council of Legal Education Opportunity Fellowship.
Mr. Figueroa holds an LL.M. in real property development from the University of Miami School of Law and earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He graduated, magna cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also earned a certificate in Latin American studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a certificate in Chinese law from the Renmin University of China School of Law.
Mr. Figueroa is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the New York State and American Bar Associations, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Inc. and the Urban Land Institute. He is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Alumni Association, the University of Miami School of Law Alumni Association, and a member and former director of the UMASS Alumni Association. Mr. Figueroa currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Museo de Arte Puerto Rico, and was co-chair of the Young International Committee, Museo del Barrio, NYC. He is a member of the Alpha Chi Rho National Fraternity and a former volunteer attorney at Philadelphia's AIDS Law Project and Catholic Charities Immigration. Mr. Figueroa is the founder and member of Fundación Figueroa, Ortíz & Santiago, Inc., an organization that provides scholarships to students graduating from the Ana J. Candelas Academic High School.
Mr. Figueroa is admitted to practice in Florida and New York.
Mr. Figueroa is fluent in Spanish.
Articles and Presentations
- "The Selection of the Federal District Court Judges in Puerto Rico: An Extension of Puerto Rican Politics," Diego R. Figueroa-Rodriguez (Sheldon Goldman), Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (1999)
- Speaker, Congreso de Lideres de Puerto Rico