The nation’s top 50 municipal bond counselors this year at law firms have seen both the value and number of bond issues drop significantly, as local governments reined in their spending in anticipation of a possible economic downturn.

Overall, a number of Southeast-founded law firms and those with large offices in the region saw their rankings both rise and fall among the top 50 municipal bond counselors in the U.S. when the first nine months of 2023 and 2022 were compared, according to the financial data firm Refinitiv.