Sarah O’Dea is a public finance attorney focused on serving the educational, economic, capital, and infrastructure needs of state and local governments, public and private universities, port authorities, and public schools throughout the State of Ohio.

She has served in the role of bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and underwriter’s counsel in connection with complex financings across the U.S., and she provides general counsel to her clients on matters of compliance with federal income tax and securities laws. Sarah is a member of the firm’s securities law committee and continuing disclosure taskforce.

Sarah has recently been engaged with project financings focused on delivering positive climate and environmental impacts that meet the requirements for designation as green bonds, including $600 million in green bonds issued by The Ohio State University to finance a new, 1.9 million-square-foot inpatient hospital, and financing for the construction of 850 geothermal wells by Oberlin College and Conservatory, which will support the institution’s Sustainable Infrastructure Program and its pledge to become carbon neutral by 2025. Sarah previously served as bond counsel in connection with one of the first green-bond financings in the State of New York.

While practicing in New York, Sarah served as underwriter’s counsel for an $829 million bond sale for New York University by The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the largest offering in its history for a private institution. She served in a similar role in the merger of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) into Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, which earned The Bond Buyer’s Healthcare Deal of the Year Award.

Sarah has worked on significant infrastructure and transportation facilities for the State of Ohio, including GARVEE-supported highway projects for the Ohio Department of Transportation, as well as runway expansions for the Miami International Airport (FL) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FL), and port expansions at the Port of Miami (FL) and Port Everglades (FL). The Port of Miami seaport tunnel expansion won distinction as the largest public-private partnership (P3) financing in history.

Sarah has represented cities and counties in tourist-development, convention center, and professional sports-facilities financings, including construction of the Miami Marlins’ (MLB) LoanDepot Ballpark in Miami (FL), the Florida Panthers’ (NHL) FLA Live Arena in Sunrise (FL), and the Memphis Grizzlies’ (NBA) FedEx Forum in Memphis (TN). She has also served as bond counsel in connection with financings for improvements to the Dayton Convention Center and Broward County Convention Center (FL).

Prior to joining Bricker Graydon LLP, Sarah served as Senior Counsel in the New York City office of a Boston-based law firm.

For additional ways to contact Sarah O'Dea, you can reach her assistant Lora Leuzinger at 614.227.4912 or by email.

Education

Brown University (A.B.), 2002

University of Miami School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude), 2007

Distinctions

The Bond Buyer’s Healthcare Deal of the Year Award, 2013

Professional Activities

Member, National Association of Bond Lawyers

Member, Ohio Council of School Board Attorneys

Member, Brown Alumni Association

Judicial Intern, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (2005)

News

Publications