Customer Reviews

Good Counsel: Meeting the Legal Needs of Nonprofits

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wish I had this book during the first five years as in-house counsel for a global nonprofit organization...and I am glad to have it now!

Good Counsel is both informative and reassuring. It is the singular most important desk (or e-reader) reference that a nonprofit legal service provider (and those who love them, work with them or need one) should have at the ready.

Good Counsel gives legal practitioners and non-profit leaders alike a comprehensive overview of the issues likely to face any non-profit, big or small. If your nonprofit doesn't have (or can't afford) a lawyer to define the issues you'll encounter or to provide a primer on how to address them when you do, then you should have Good Counsel on your desk.

If you're a nonprofit legal service provider and have been wondering if others are facing similar issues, handling them the same way, etc., Good Counsel will provide reassurance and will also serve as a tool as you continue to address these important issues over time.

There are a lot of resources for lawyers advising nonprofits on basic formation, tax and compliance matters. There are few resources for lawyers advising (or working in house at) nonprofits on the day to day business matters that programmatic nonprofits face. Good Counsel is a resource for those doing the day to day legal work that helps great nonprofits achieve maximum impact.

A must have.

If anyone has the credentials to write a book like this one, it is counselor Rosenthal. Her extensive experience both in the private sector and in non-profit settings makes her uniquely qualified to write a book dealing with the legal issues and challenges of non-profit organizations.

Ms. Rosenthal covers the gamut of issues likely to be encountered, such as corporate law, contracts, compensation of management, mission statements, copyrights, licensing, boards of directors, minutes of meetings, fundraising, trademark law and even government lobbying.

While it is written for lawyers and students (there are focus questions and and work plans at the end of most chapters), this book can be read by just about anyone who is involved or may wish to be involved in such organizations. The writing style is easy to understand; the author clearly explains her ideas in simple language.

The book has a companion website where additional information can be found.

Ms. Rosenthal has both good counsel and common sense in abundance. This book should be in the offices of every non-profit organization in the world. I dare you to put it down once you start reading it!

I wish this book had been available when I was Executive Director of a religious organization. It answers so many questions I had, and makes me think of a dozen more I wish I had asked.

"Good Counsel" is filled with such clear statements of so many wise observations as to the practice of law in the particular context of nonprofit organizations, and it addresses such a broad range of conventional legal subject matter specializations in this context, that it not only helps define nonprofit law as an area of practice, but is certain to be of practical use to anyone with responsibility for the legal affairs or general management of a nonprofit. It is also a good read. Because of this, it is the rare legal book whose readers are likely to include better clients as well as better lawyers.

This book makes you aware of everything legal in a nonprofit and provides the resources to help you with a nonprofit legal matters.