© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(May 9) – Polsinelli boosted its nonprofits practice with the addition of Jonathan Blum as counsel to the firm’s Dallas office. Blum has served as general counsel for two prominent Dallas nonprofits – Susan G. Komen and, most recently, the David Nathan Meyerson Foundation.
Blum, a University of Texas School of Law graduate, said the firm’s fantastic reputation in the nonprofit sector and the opportunity to work with Kansas City-based senior partner Bruce Hopkins – who Blum says wrote many of the textbooks on non-profit law – attracted him to the firm.
“It’s [non-profit] a growing practice at the firm,” he said. “Polsinelli’s mid-market focus and understanding of cost constraints matches well with what non-profits are looking for.
“The driver here is the non-profit healthcare industry.”
Prior to working in-house at Susan G. Komen®, Blum was an associate at Weil Gotshal, where he worked on some matters with Kimberly Simpson, who became the general counsel of the nation’s largest breast cancer organization at the time. She asked him to join her in-house.
“It was a great growth opportunity for me professionally,” he said. “I saw new things every day and felt like I was contributing to something bigger.”
In November 2011, Blum assumed a new position as executive director and general counsel of the David Nathan Meyerson Foundation, the primary philanthropic vehicle for the Morton H. Meyerson family. The opportunity to work more closely with a great philanthropist like Meyerson was invaluable, Blum said.
Blum said one of the biggest challenges for nonprofits today is the friction that comes with being pressured to be more efficient, while keeping costs at a minimum. Some nonprofits have received public criticism when they have become more efficient because they have “tarnished the halo.”
“It’s a double standard,” said Blum, who was honored by the Dallas Bar Association and the Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas in 2004 as the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year. “It’s the reason nonprofits shy away from legal services.”
This is a primary reason Blum says small to mid-sized nonprofits are underserved.
Two other issues Blum says the non-profit world are keeping an eye on are potential modifications to the tax code – particularly some proposals that champion putting a cap on tax deductions for philanthropy – and executive compensation.
Blum becomes the 28th attorney in the firm’s Dallas office, which opened in 2011 with three lawyers.
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