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Maura L. Whelan
 

Maura L. Whelan

Senior Counsel
 
425 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017 

Maura Whelan is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Practice. Maura provides clients—consisting of all types of tax-exempt organizations, as well as their governing boards and donors—comprehensive and specialized advice honed from years of practical experience working with exempt organizations. While her work primarily focuses on representing exempt organizations, Maura also has extensive experience representing other types of clients in their philanthropic endeavors and interactions with exempt organizations, including high net worth individuals, family offices, major corporations, and novel philanthropic structures, such as limited liability companies. She advises clients on a wide variety of structural and operational issues, including formation, governance, succession planning and ongoing compliance with applicable tax rules. Maura has significant experience working with grantmaking organizations to structure and implement complex grantmaking programs. She counsels donors in philanthropic planning and structuring. Maura represents charitable and social welfare organizations in connection with social impact and mission- and program-related investments. In addition, she represents endowments, foundations and other institutional investors in connection with alternative investments.

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Work Highlights
  • A private foundation in connection with transformative grants to domestic and international universities
  • A philanthropist in connection with an historic gift to Hunter College to enhance its nurse practitioner master’s degree program and catalyze a new level of high-quality health care in underserved communities across New York City
  • One of the world’s largest private foundations in connection with governance and succession planning
  • A private foundation in connection with the establishment and operation of a highly-selective fellowship program hosted at a premier Chinese university
  • A major collector in connection with a promised gift of Cubist art and a monetary gift to fund a new research center at a New York museum
  • A private foundation in connection with the transformation of an historic pier on Manhattan’s west side into an public park offering an immersive experience with nature and art
  • Various tax-exempt organizations in connection with the establishment and implementation of “mission-related” investment policies and programs
  • Several significant private foundations in connection with program-related investments and loans
  • Several public charities and private foundations in comprehensive governance reviews and audits
  • Several endowed institutions in connection with secondary sales of interests in their investment portfolios
Education
  • Harvard Law School, 2010 J.D.
    cum laude
  • Georgetown University, 2005 A.B.
    magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
Associations
  • American Bar Association Section of Taxation, Member, Exempt Organizations Committee
  • American Bar Association Section of Taxation, Former Secretary of the Exempt Organizations Committee
  • New York City Bar Association, Non-Profit Organizations Committee
Admissions
  • New York 2011

Maura Whelan is Senior Counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where she practices in the Exempt Organizations Practice. Maura provides clients-—consisting of all types of tax-exempt organizations, as well as their governing boards and donors—comprehensive and specialized advice honed from years of practical experience working with exempt organizations. While her work primarily focuses on representing exempt organizations, Maura also has extensive experience representing other types of clients in their philanthropic endeavors and interactions with exempt organizations, including high net worth individuals, family offices, major corporations, and novel philanthropic structures, such as limited liability companies. Maura advises private foundations, public charities, social welfare organizations, and trade associations on a wide variety of structural and operational issues, including formation, governance, succession planning, and ongoing compliance with the tax rules applicable to tax-exempt organizations. Maura has significant experience working with grantmaking organizations – including private foundations, sponsoring organizations of donor advised funds, “American friends of” organizations and social welfare organizations – to structure and implement complex domestic and international grantmaking programs. Maura counsels both individual and corporate donors in philanthropic planning and structuring, including related to gifts of art and other complex assets. Maura represents charitable and social welfare organizations in connection with social impact and mission- and program-related investments. In addition, Maura represents endowed universities, foundations, hospitals, cultural institutions and other institutional investors, including family offices, in the review and negotiation of documentation relating to alternative investments.

Maura is recognized as a thought leader and is regularly featured as a speaker and writer at symposia, conferences, and convening’s of exempt organizations and their advisors. Maura has presented at the New York City Bar Association, American Bar Association Section of Taxation Exempt Organizations Committee, Georgetown University Law Center’s Representing and Managing Tax-Exempt Organizations Conference, University of Texas School of Law’s Nonprofit Organizations Institute and Appraisers Association of America Art Law Day, and at programs sponsored by the TEGE Exempt Organizations Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, among others.

Maura is a member of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation’s Exempt Organizations Committee and previously served as Secretary of that Committee. The Committee is considered the nation’s leading exempt organizations practitioners group. Maura also is a member of the New York City Bar Association Non-Profit Organizations Committee.

Maura earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she graduated cum laude. She earned her A.B. from Georgetown University, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

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