Highlighting what one client referred to as his “mastery of the full range of legal disciplines facing nonprofit organizations,” Venable LLP partner Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum was named the American Bar Association’s Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer for 2006. This honor is awarded annually by the ABA's Business Law Section to attorneys who have made outstanding contributions to the nonprofit sector or the development of nonprofit law.
Mr. Tenenbaum’s practice focuses exclusively on association and nonprofit law. He counsels more than 250 nonprofit clients nationally each year on the broad legal issues affecting trade and professional associations and other nonprofit groups, and regularly represents clients before Congress, federal and state regulatory agencies, and in connection with governmental investigations, enforcement actions, and other proceedings.
“ Jeff Tenenbaum has created a robust practice in representing trade and professional associations, which are vital to industry and self-regulation, public policy development, and the free flow of information. Lawyers who serve trade associations serve the public interest,” said William Coston, Partner-in-Charge of Venable’sWashington office.
“We are very proud that the ABA has recognized what the leaders of hundreds of major nonprofits have come to know in recent years, namely that Jeff is the country’s go-to legal advisor on their matters,” Mr. Coston added. “He has really shown himself to be one of the top practitioners in this challenging, and growing, area of the law.”
Mr. Tenenbaum has been highly visible in the nonprofit community for more than a decade. During law school, he worked for several years in the government affairs division of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), serving for a time as manager of its legal section. In the mid-1990s, he began advising associations on their particular legal issues. He has since become an active lecturer on the association circuit, giving more than two dozen presentations a year, including many for ASAE and The Center for Association Leadership. He also serves as general counsel to The Center.
Mr. Tenenbaum has written over 200 articles on nonprofit legal topics, contributing regularly to Associations Now, Association Trends, and other industry journals. In 2000, he authored the Association Tax Compliance Guide, published by ASAE. He has contributed to other books as well, including Association Law Compendium, Essentials of the Profession Learning System, and Generating and Managing Nondues Revenue in Association. Mr. Tenenbaum is regularly quoted by The Washington Post and other print media on nonprofit legal issues. In addition to his legal work, Mr. Tenenbaum serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Association Law & Policy journal and the ASAE Public Policy Committee. He previously served as Chairman of the AL&P Editorial Advisory Board, and on the GWSAE Foundation Board of Trustees and the Editorial Advisory Board of Aspen’s Nonprofit Tax & Financial Strategies, among other volunteer positions.
Susan Sarfati, President & CEO of The Center for Association Leadership, who has known Mr. Tenenbaum since his days with ASAE, commented: “I have enormous respect not only for Jeff’s extensive legal knowledge in the nonprofit area, but for his ability to take complicated issues and make them comprehensible, delivering much-needed, practical guidance to those of us who run nonprofit organizations.”
“Through his service in recent years as general counsel to The Center, my colleagues and I have been first-hand beneficiaries of Jeff’s talents,” Ms. Sarfati continued. “Jeff has successfully shepherded us through many legal challenges – the most notable being our merger with ASAE – with tremendous skill and finesse. As he has successfully grown his client base, Jeff has trained a strong core of junior attorneys in his mold of the Nonprofit Lawyer.”
Mr. Tenenbaum was recognized by Who's Who in American Law in 2005 and by the Washington Business Journal as a "Top Washington Lawyer" in 2004. In the nonprofit community, he was awarded the distinguished “Chairman's Award” from GWSAE in 1997 and from The Center for Association Leadership in 2004.
“I am truly humbled by the ABA ’s recognition of my work,” said Mr. Tenenbaum. “Receiving this recognition from my peers is a great honor and one which I will always treasure.”
One of the American Lawyer’s top 100 law firms, Venable LLP has attorneys practicing in all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, intellectual property and government affairs. Venable serves corporate, institutional, governmental, nonprofit and individual clients throughout the U.S. and around the world from its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and offices in California, Maryland, New York and Virginia. For more, visit www.Venable.com.