Overview
Catherine H. Gillespie serves as Of Counsel in Montgomery McCracken’s Business Department. She focuses her practice on health care, with a particular focus on long-term care, higher education and a range of corporate and tax law issues affecting nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.
Her expertise includes mergers and acquisitions of nonprofit entities, re-structuring relationships between and among organizations and creating documents to reflect the resulting structures. She counsels tax exempt organizations on the process of being sold to for profit businesses and guides the organizations through the often-complicated process.
Catherine regularly obtains 501(c)(3) status for nonprofit clients and subsequently works with them to maintain that status. She regularly advises organizations on Federal and state law compliance and licensure issues.
Additionally, Catherine provides legal expertise by advising clients in the following areas:
- Amendments to Bylaws and Articles to accurately reflect an organization’s internal operations;
- Dissolution of an organization;
- Health care regulatory compliance;
- HIPAA compliance advice to businesses and nonprofits as well as their contractors and subcontractors;
- Real estate tax and sales tax exemptions for 501(c)(3) organizations;
- Negotiate and create, if needed, contracts for the unique needs of charities of various missions and sizes;
- Review admission agreements for various types of health care facilities to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations;
- Provide day-to-day advice and guidance to clients.
She is certified in Health Care Compliance by the Health Care Compliance Association. She has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in social work from West Virginia University, both with a focus on gerontology.
The Record
Credentials
Admitted to Practice
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
Selected Representations
Catherine has represented an array of long-term care, health care, higher education and nonprofit clients in a wide variety of transactions including:
- Managed a team of attorneys to achieve the sale of a 501(c)(3) long term care nursing facility to an out-of-state, for-profit owner and operator. In addition to multiple state and federal agencies involved in the review process, the PA Attorney General and the Orphans’ Court were involved in approving the sale. The sale involved the establishment of a Donor Advised Fund at a community foundation to hold the proceeds of the sale.
- Structured the purchase of a limited liability company, a for-profit provider of e-content to academic centers, libraries and other charitable entities by a 501(c)(3) client, itself a global provider of such services, expanding the client’s scope of services into this realm.
- Advised a community foundation in the termination and consolidation of its separate foundations and charities.
- Headed a team of attorneys in the purchase of a $27 million bond deal for a client, a 501(c)(3) continuing care retirement community.
Selected Speaking Engagements
- Presenter, “Nonprofit Mergers, Acquisitions and Dissolutions,” Nonprofit Issues and the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations, September 2025
- Presenter, “Nonprofit Mergers, Acquisitions, and Dissolutions,” Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations, August 2025
- Presenter, “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issue‘s 29th Annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” November 2019
- Presenter, “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issue‘s 29th Annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law, ” November 2018
- Presenter, “Helping Colleges Comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Holy Family University, March 2017
- Presenter, “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issue‘s 22nd Annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” November 2012
- Speaker, “The Application of the Americans with Disabilities Act in Higher Education,” Cabrini College, November 2012
- Speaker, “Risk Management – Legal Issues in Long Term Car,” March 2012
- Presenter, “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issue‘s 21st Annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” November 2011
- Speaker, “Managing Risk in Study Abroad Programs,” The College and University Health Safety and Security Seminar, Overseas Security Advisory Council, Arcadia University, August 2011
- Presenter, “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issue‘s 20th Annual “This Year in Nonprofit Law,” December 2010
- Speaker, “Missing Student Procedures and Other Clery Act Changes Under HEOA and FERPA Final Regulations,” Montgomery McCracken’s Fall Forum for Colleges and Universities, October 2010
- Presenter, “Legal Topics in Higher Education,” 16th Annual Education and Law Conference, University of Southern Maine, July 2009
- Presenter, “Home Care Compliance in New Jersey,” May 2009
- Presenter, “The ‘Difficult’ Family Member“ and “HIPAA: Its Effect on Long Term Care Providers,” LifeSpan/PANPHA
- Presenter, “Record retention, response to record requests, admission agreements, marketing goals versus legal issues and the Form 990 as a ‘marketing’ tool,” Leadership Healthcare National Conference, March 2007
- Presenter, “The Legal Audit Checklist for Long Term Care Facilities,” Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Homes for the Aging (PANPHA) Annual Meeting, 2006
Selected Publications
- Author, “HIPAA Waivers and “Enforcement Discretion During COVID-19,” April 2020
- Quoted, “Therapy animals gain campus acceptance,” University Business, August 2016
- Author, “Therapy Animals” Unleashed in University Housing,” June 2016
- Mentioned, “People on the Move,” Philadelphia Business Journal, October 2013
- Author, “The Issue of ‘Consent’ and Testing for Substance Abuse in Pennsylvania Nursing Homes,” Pennsylvania Medical Directors Association Newsletter, February 2005
Professional Activities
- Member, National Association of College and University Attorneys
- Board of Managers, Ralston Center
- Board Member, Woodgate Homeowners Association
- Member, Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Member, New Jersey Bar Association
- Member, American Health Lawyers Association
- Member, Health Care Compliance Association
Education
Law School
- Dickinson School of Law
Graduate School
- University of Michigan School of Public Health|West Virginia University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School
- Hunter College of the City University of New York
Insights
Shared Thinking
Alerts HIPAA Waivers and “Enforcement Discretion” During COVID-19 The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has implemented limited 1135(b) waivers of certain Medicare requirements while the HHS Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has announced a… Read More Alerts Title IX Update: DoE Releases Significant Proposed Changes This morning the Department of Education released a revised draft of proposed changes to regulations governing the obligations of higher education institutions under Title IX. This recent draft,… Read More Alerts CMS Issues Final Requirements for Participation for Long Term Care Facilities: First Complete Update Since 1991 On October 4, 2016, the Federal Register published the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revised requirements for long term care facilities. 185 pages are devoted to publishing… Read More In the News Therapy animals gain campus acceptance Pets can help students cope with stress, depression and other mental disorders. But until recently, this well-documented remedy did not guarantee a space for therapy animals on campus.… Read More Bylined Articles “Therapy Animals” Unleashed in University Housing The University of Nebraska at Kearney signed a consent order with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Kent State University and DOJ jointly proposed a consent order… Read More Press Releases Montgomery McCracken Partner Catherine Gillespie Appointed to Ralston Center Board of Managers PHILADELPHIA-Montgomery McCracken partner Catherine Gillespie, chair of the firm's Higher Education Practice Group, has been appointed to serve on the Ralston Center Board of Managers. The board works… Read More
Talk With Catherine
Philadelphia 215-772-7254 cgillespie@mmwr.com