Montgomery McCracken has earned a reputation for broad experience in representing nonprofits and educational organizations. In response to the growing need for legal services in these areas, the firm has established a distinctive Nonprofit and Education Law practice to provide comprehensive counsel and assistance.
Our active client base includes hundreds of organizations ranging in size from internationally known universities and medical research institutions with multi-million dollar programs, to volunteer community organizations with budgets of only a few thousand dollars.
In our education practice, we represent colleges and universities, private secondary schools and specialized institutions for developmentally disabled persons.
Given the diverse nature of our clients, we frequently call upon other areas of the firm to lend focus to a particular issue. An example of this collaborative effort is the formation of the "Exempt Organizations Group" comprised of more than a dozen experienced attorneys from each of our other practice groups. We believe a legal advisor's approach to representation of today's nonprofit clients must be comprehensive, creative and committed. At Montgomery McCracken we deliver on our promise to meet and exceed these goals.
The statutes of 39 states and the District of Columbia generally require organizations that solicit contributions within the states to register with the states before they solicit contributions. Failure to comply with these statutes can result in formal legal actions, the imposition of significant fines and penalties, and negative publicity for any organization found to have violated them.
Complying with the requirements of all 39 states and the District of Columbia necessarily consumes significant amounts of a national charity's time and money. Because of its experience in this area, Montgomery, McCracken is able to register most organizations with the 39 states and the District of Columbia for a fixed legal fee, plus filing charges and costs, rather than having to charge its usual hourly rates. The firm also provides similar registration services for the for-profit professional fundraisers that charitable organizations often hire to assist them with their fundraising efforts.
Montgomery McCracken also performs comprehensive Compliance Assessments for charitable and other tax-exempt organizations. These Compliance Assessments help organizations determine whether they are in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and whether they have any actual or potential problems that could result in state or federal prosecutions and/or negative publicity. Montgomery McCracken can help discover potential problems and, equally important, advise our clients on how to most appropriately remedy them.
Finally, the attorneys at Montgomery McCracken have extensive experience conducting internal investigations for charitable and other tax-exempt organizations that either know, or suspect, that one or more individuals in their organizations have engaged in inappropriate or illegal conduct. This extensive experience helps us to uncover improprieties efficiently and effectively and make appropriate recommendations for addressing irregularities.