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Philanthropy

Overview

Nonprofit organizations face increasingly complex federal and state regulations. These institutions must take steps to minimize the legal liability exposure of trustees, officers, and other personnel, comply with applicable state and local regulation of charitable solicitation, and handle the intricacies of forming joint ventures with commercial entities.

As philanthropy attorneys, Nutter has a long and successful track record providing a range of services to nonprofit organizations and to the individuals who contribute to such organizations. Among the firm's clients are national and local public charities, hospitals and other health care organizations, educational institutions, private foundations, philanthropists, and trade associations. Our nonprofit clients look to us to provide legal advice and we offer investment advisory, trust accounting, and tax preparation services. Drawing upon the various areas of expertise of our multi-service practice, such as business, tax and employment law, we counsel and represent our nonprofit clients in organizational matters, fundraising and financing issues, revenue-generating and investment activities, and employment matters, including executive and deferred compensation plans.

Education
Academic institutions, whether a world-class medical school or local preparatory school, need legal advice in a range of areas – intellectual property, employment, antitrust counseling and compliance, and real estate, zoning, land use, and environmental matters. Our educational clients include elite colleges and universities, local, public and independent secondary schools, teaching hospitals, educational television stations, and companies that manufacture or distribute educational products.

We have assisted our clients in education to prepare for capital campaigns, provided advice on the legal aspects of campus security and student discipline, handled employee, student and faculty relations matters, negotiated collective bargaining agreements, and obtained institutional financing.

Health Care
From public health care companies, physician organizations, and health care technology ventures to hospitals and developers of health care facilities, health care providers face a complex set of challenges, regulations, and needs. They need legal counsel with in-depth expertise to assist them in structuring complex transactions, including tax-exempt financings, and mergers and acquisitions. We help our health care clients manage risk and meet their long-term goals.

Our attorneys handle issues in health care licensing and regulation, reimbursement, fraud and abuse compliance matters, and structuring joint ventures between taxable and tax-exempt entities – all of which are required to operate successfully in today’s dynamic health care industry. We also have a proven track record in niche areas such as government enforcement defense, privacy and information security law, clinical trial development, and pharmaceutical sales and marketing advice and training.

Foundations, Families and Individuals
From investment advice to trust accounting and tax preparation, foundations, families, and individuals require legal services that are highly personalized. Our Private Client attorneys provide expert guidance in financial and tax planning, personal estate planning, trust and estate administration, and services for executives and owners of closely held businesses. Beyond the individuals and families we serve, we offer a range of services for public and private foundations, working closely with founders, boards of trustees and often the next generation to develop giving programs that are unique to the client. Our clients are national and local public charities, including several educational institutions within the Greater Boston area, private foundations, and philanthropists.

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Representative Matters

Representative Matters

  • Felicia M. DeLorenzo Scholarship Foundation

    Nutter worked closely with the directors, including a representative of Ms. DeLorenzo’s family, to identify the particular qualities in today’s students that Ms. DeLorenzo would most want to recognize and reward, principally a strong work ethic, care for others, and commitment to the Arlington community, and then developed an application and selection process that has allowed as many as 150 applicants to be carefully considered for awards ranging in size from $2,000 to $20,000 each spring season. This same team, along with Nutter’s Trust and Tax Accounting groups, has managed the Foundation’s corporate filings, federal and state nonprofit reporting, website development, on-line application support, award payments, accounting, and publicity. Nutter Investment Advisors has provided investment management services to the Foundation, as well.

  • Advised executives of publicly traded companies regarding estate planning opportunities

    Nutter advised executives of publicly traded companies regarding estate planning opportunities with corporate stock subject to SEC reporting obligations, including lifetime QTIP trusts for the spouse, charitable remainder trusts, dynasty trusts, and charitable foundations.

  • Business succession and tax planning for owners of closely held businesses

    Business succession and tax planning for owners of closely held businesses including advising multiple generations on planning opportunities surrounding the sale of a $300 million family business.

  • Cedar's With Heart Inc.

    Nutter represented Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods Inc. in the formation of Cedar's With Heart Inc., its nonprofit initiative whose mission is to end food insecurity and support local youth enrichment programs in Massachusetts schools and communities.

  • Represented the beneficiaries of a $700 million estate

    Nutter represented the beneficiaries of a $700 million estate on questions surrounding tax apportionment, allocation of expenses, and funding of trusts.

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