Jerald A. Jacobs
Partner

Mr. Jacobs leads Pillsbury’s Nonprofit Organizations practice, which provides legal counseling and advocacy for over 200 national trade associations, professional societies, cause organizations, credentialing agencies, and charities. He is also leader of the firm’s 60-lawyer Public Practices and Public Policy Sections. His practice includes a wide range of are as to the extent that they affect nonprofit organizations: antitrust and trade regulation, health law, litigation, corporate governance, transactions, federal income tax exemption, and federal legislative and regulatory issues. His experience is international in scope and he has advised the governments of the EU and the Peoples’ Republic of China on nongovernmental organization issues.

Mr. Jacobs is General Counsel to ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, the 24,000-member national “association of associations.” He has also written or edited a dozen books on nonprofit organization law, including the standard text Association Law Handbook, now in its 4^th edition.

• Merged two major national trade associations in the financial services industry, each with competing programs and complex structures, into one large association.
• Represented a major national trade association of retailers in plaintiffs' class action antitrust litigation resulting in a multi-billion-dollar settlement including extensive prospective transaction relief.
• Assisted a national cause organization in developing a sequence of endorsed products and services used by millions of members, with the programs conforming to federal income tax exemption requirements.
• Created the structure and vehicle for a membership organization-owned investment company that is marketed to consumers.
• Assisted a national trade association in the entertainment industry in negotiating two joint ventures to conduct industry exhibitions, one in Europe and one in Asia.
• Combined two professional societies of corporate executives into one, overcoming an extended proxy battle to obtain the necessary membership approval in one of the societies.
• Assisted a national medical specialty society in amending federal patent law to preclude enforcement of patents on medical or surgical procedures unrelated to pharmaceuticals or devices.
• Merged the fifty separate state chapters of a major federated health charity into the national organization.
• On a pro bono basis, merged a national arts organization for the handicapped into the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
• Created a limited liability company to provide information to consumers and to governments on the good standing of licensed professionals in the financial services industry.
• Advised an automobile industry association on the development of voluntary industry safety and performance standards for automobile repair.
• Brought litigation on behalf of a national professional certification organization against a vendor of testing administration services, resulting in monetary and injunctive relief.
• Prepared a brief amicus curiae to achieve an appellate court decision favorable to the constituency of a professional scientific society.
• Advised a national association of specialty physicians on code of ethics enforcement criteria and procedures addressing members' expert testimony in tort litigation.
• Assisted a large national trade association in recruiting a new chief executive officer by offering benefits effectively replicating those of a business corporation.
• Combined five separate national organizations in an amateur sport into one major entity with three million members and five thousand state and local chapters.

• Best Lawyers in America, Non-Profit / Charities Law (2009-2013)
• Outstanding Nonprofit Attorney, American Bar Association

District of Columbia Bar Association, American Bar Association

Various Federal District and Circuit Courts, U.S. Supreme Court

Association Law Handbook: A Practical Guide for Associations, Societies, and Charities (Author), Fourth Edition published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, 2007; biennial supplement Association Law Update published in August, 2009; available at www.asaecenter.org; earlier editions published by the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

Guide to Nonprofit Corporate Governance in the Wake of Sarbanes-Oxley (Contributor), published by the American Bar Association Section of Business Law, 2005.

Certification and Accreditation Law Handbook (Co-Author with Jefferson C. Glassie), Second Edition published by ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership, 2004; the First Edition was published in 1992.

Associations & the Law (Editor and Contributor), published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, 2003.

Nonprofit Governance and Management (Contributor), published by the American Bar Association and American Society of Corporate Secretaries, 2002.

Planning Your Career in Association Management (Contributor), published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, 2002.

The Evils of Excess in the Nonprofit World (Contributor), published by the American Bar Association Section of Business Law, 1999.

Taking the Lead; a How-To Report on Six Key Issues Facing Today’s CEO (Contributor), published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, 1999.

Legal Risk Management for Associations (Co-Author with David W. Ogden), published by the American Psychological Association, 1995.

Conducting International Meetings (Contributor), published by Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, 1993.

Federal Lobbying Handbook (Editor and Contributor), Second Edition published by ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership, 1992; the First Edition was published in 1989 by the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

Current Principles and Practices in Association Self-Regulation (Author of Introduction), published by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, 1992.

A Bibliography of Association Management Literature (Contributor), published by Washington Association Research Foundation, 1990.