Leader and Innovator.
One of the first law firms to develop a practice area devoted entirely to the representation of charities and other tax-exempt organizations, Milbank is widely recognized as a leader and innovator in the field. Our rich history in the representation of exempt organizations, including incorporating Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Asia Society, and the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation, enables us to conduct our Exempt Organizations practice at the forefront of developments as they occur. Though we represent our clients on a wide variety of matters, we are most often asked to advise on novel and complex issues requiring our special expertise, including most recently the transfer of technology and intellectual property by research and educational organizations, the use of taxable subsidiaries to conduct related and unrelated revenue-generating activities, organizing joint ventures with for-profit institutions, structuring vehicles for mission-related and program-related investments, grant-making to foreign organizations, and structuring and using donor-advised funds.
deep experience and expertise
Our practice spans a wide range of exempt organizations, including grant-making foundations, operating foundations and a variety of educational institutions and other public charities, as well as donors to such organizations. Because of its breadth and depth, our Exempt Organizations practice often collaborates with attorneys in the firm’s other practice areas – including Corporate, Real Estate, Tax, and Trusts & Estates – giving it capabilities that distinguish it from many of its peers.
specialized ongoing advice
Often representing organizations from inception, our practice provides the specialized advice needed to organize as a charitable corporation or trust under state law and to be recognized as exempt from federal, state, and local taxation. We provide ongoing advice regarding the governance and administration of both new and long-standing organizations. We draw on our extensive experience with the laws specific to exempt organizations to advise on issues relating to an organization’s tax-exempt status, investment and expenditure policies, compensation arrangements, joint ventures with for-profit and other institutions, and the negotiation and receipt of gifts, bequests, and interests in trusts for donors and institutions. Our expertise also includes advising with respect to the planned giving programs of institutional clients.
major nonprofit institutions
We act as general counsel on a continuing basis to major nonprofit institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, The Skirball Foundation, Rockefeller Family Fund, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. We also provide transactional advice to institutions on a range of matters, including real estate transactions, contracts, and intellectual property. When disputes arise, we work in close collaboration with our Litigation & Arbitration Group.