Kevin E. Roe

Kevin Roe is Counsel in the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Practice. Recognized as a “Rising Star” by The Legal 500 United States (2024), he advises public charities and private foundations on structural and operating issues, including formation, governance, reorganizations, commercial transactions, domestic and international grantmaking and taxation. He also provides advice to public and private companies on corporate social responsibility programs and to not-for-profit institutions and their donors on charitable giving. The Legal 500 reports high praise for Kevin from clients, recognizing Kevin as being “excellent on many fronts” and emphasizing his “depth and breadth of knowledge.”

In addition, Kevin represents universities, foundations, hospitals and cultural institutions in connection with the investment of their endowments, including in the review and negotiation of documentation relating to investments in private funds and similar investment vehicles and in connection with impact investments and mission- and program-related investments.

Kevin’s representative experience includes:

• Médecins Sans Frontières USA/Doctors Without Borders in connection with governance and operating advice, serving as primary counsel to the organization
• Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., in connection with a transformational gift to eliminate tuition at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• New York Presbyterian Hospital in connection with its $1 billion merger with subsidiary New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
• The Gray Foundation in connection with the foundation’s donation of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the study of new approaches to the detection, diagnosis and therapy of BRCA-related cancers
• Atlantic Philanthropies in connection with a $177 million grant to create the Global Brain Health Institute, an organization dedicated to dementia research and treatment
• Several global asset managers in connection with the structuring of the philanthropic programs and launch of their corporate foundations
• Morgan Stanley in connection with the launch of Morgan Stanley HBCU Scholars, an integrated program to strategically engage with and support HBCUs
• Family offices in connection complex philanthropic matters, including contributions of family-owned business interests, program related investments and co-investing by charitable vehicles, self-dealing advice, and division and restructuring of family foundations

Kevin is the author of Understanding Private Foundations for Thomson Reuters Practical Law. He is a member of the Government Relations Council of Nonprofit New York and chair of its Federal Taxation subcommittee, and he previously served as Secretary of the Non-Profit Committee of the New York City Bar Association. In addition to regular CLE instruction and professional presentations, Kevin teaches Nonprofit Law at Fordham University School of Law. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Partnership for After School Education.

Kevin regularly speaks on topics of relevance to exempt organizations. Recent speaking engagements have included include a presentation titled “The Art of Deduction: Current Topics and Complex Issues in Charitable Giving” at the Annual Family Office Tax Seminar; a webinar presented by New York City Arts in Education Roundtable and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest titled “Advocacy and Lobbying for Nonprofits;” and a panel on “Anatomy of an Impact Investment from the Investor Perspective” at the 41st annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute of the University of Texas School of Law.