Suzanne Mayes is a nationally known public and project finance attorney, chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Public & Project Finance Practice, co-chair of the Business Law Department, and a senior member of the firm’s board of directors and management committee.
In her private practice, Suzanne serves as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, borrower’s counsel, and disclosure counsel to a wide range of for-profit, not-for-profit, and public clients. She is regularly engaged as bond counsel to some of the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest issuers of tax-exempt debt and as underwriter’s counsel to leading global investment banks in eight- and nine-digit deals.
With more than three decades of experience, Suzanne has accrued extensive knowledge of complex financing structures and hedging instruments. She has led efforts to finance public infrastructure, academic institutions, housing, sports stadiums, student loans, airports and toll roads, senior living facilities, and mass transit, as well as provided counsel on large-scale general obligation borrowings and public-private and public-public partnerships.
Suzanne holds several senior management roles at the firm. She is charged with helping optimize the Business Law Department’s culture, financial metrics, national and international growth, lateral integration, client outreach and cross marketing, and individual attorney growth and development. She also serves on the boards of directors of Inolex, a global leader in sustainable personal care product ingredients, and several non-profit organizations.
As one of the first women ever to lead an Am Law 100 public finance practice, Suzanne is a tireless advocate for women’s professional advancement. She founded the first organization on the East Coast for women in public finance and is a former president of The Forum of Executive Women.
In recognition of Suzanne’s outstanding contributions to the legal profession, she has received numerous awards and honors. She was elected to the American College of Bond Counsel in 2016 and has been ranked by Chambers & Partners USA since 2018. Suzanne was also named Best Lawyers in America “Philadelphia Lawyer of the Year for Public Finance Law” 2021, Bond Buyer’s Freda Johnson Awardee 2020, and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar” 2018.
Suzanne earned her law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Fairfield University.