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JEFFREY M. HURWIT LEGAL COUNSEL FOR PHILANTHROPY AND THE NONPROFIT SECTOR

JEFFREY M. HURWIT


INFORMATION AND RESOURCES ON NONPROFIT LAW & REGULATION
      NONPROFIT LAW LIBRARY     STATE-BY-STATE REGISTRATION & COMPLIANCE

JEFFREY M. HURWIT


Nonprofit lawyer Jeffrey M. Hurwit is founder of the law firm Hurwit & Associates, which provides comprehensive legal counsel to tax-exempt organizations and charitable donors. His clients include educational, human service, health, environmental, arts, advocacy, and professional organizations as well as corporate, family, and independent foundations throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Jeff is a former member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, the statewide organization dedicated to representing the interests of nonprofit organizations and to strengthening the nonprofit sector throughout Massachusetts. He was the recipient of the American Bar Association's Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award for 2005 and was Chairman of the Nonprofit Organization Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

In addition to providing extensive corporate, tax, and trust advice to nonprofit clients, Jeff focuses on a number of sub-specialties including:

  • Nonprofit governance and organizational design;
  • Nonprofit affiliations, partnerships, and mergers;
  • Emerging business models for achieving social impact (such as benefit corporations, program related investments, and donor advised funds);
  • Risk assessment and liability protection;
  • Endowment stewardship;
  • Grant award agreements; and,
  • International philanthropy.

The common thread to successfully representing a diversity of clients, Jeff believes, is understanding each client's needs and interests not only from a legal viewpoint but also from within a broader business context. "Having worked on staff in a large nonprofit organization, in state government as a nonprofit regulatory official, and in private practice representing nonprofits for twenty-five years," Jeff says, "I seek to understand internal and external opportunities and constraints affecting client organizations and work with clients to develop legal solutions supporting their strategies and goals."

From 1983 to 1988 Jeff served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Division of Public Charities of the Massachusetts Attorney General, which regulates, enforces, and promotes best legal and compliance practices for the thirty thousand charitable organizations in Massachusetts. His responsibilities included the oversight and legal/financial review of charitable funds held by institutional, private, and municipal entities. Such efforts frequently culminated in initiating court proceedings known as Complaints for Cy Pres to modify underutilized and neglected charitable gifts and trusts to better address current public needs.

Previously, Jeff was in-house counsel for WGBH Educational Foundation where his work focused on production and intellectual property agreements for WGBH public television programs such as Frontline, Nova, American Experience, and Masterpiece Theater. He is a graduate of Duke University, receiving a B.A. magna cum laude in Middle East Studies in 1978 and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1981.