Catherine H. Gillespie

Of Counsel

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.

RELATED Practices

Litigation

Montgomery McCracken’s Litigation Department offers a deep bench of skilled and experienced litigators whose practice areas encompass a broad array of industries and substantive legal disciplines.  Our clients include individuals, […]

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Business

Montgomery McCracken’s Business Department works proactively and collaboratively with our clients to advise on the full array of corporate and business issues, ranging from finance and regulatory matters to mergers […]

Learn more about our Business Department

Nonprofit

Montgomery McCracken’s Nonprofit Industry Group has experience in representing nonprofits, foundations, public charities and educational organizations. Our active client base includes hundreds of organizations ranging in size from internationally known universities […]

Learn more about our Nonprofit Industry

Healthcare

Montgomery McCracken’s Healthcare Industry Group brings clients the specialized knowledge and experience of attorneys with a wide range of expertise for challenges that health care providers face on a daily […]

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Higher Education

Montgomery McCracken’s Higher Education Industry Group has earned a reputation for broad experience in representing institutions of higher learning. Our group includes attorneys from many different practice areas who have […]

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Credentials

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:

  • Managing 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.
  • Structuring 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, “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
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