Alison M. Langlais

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Alison M. Langlais is an Associate in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department. Her practice encompasses commercial litigation, government investigations and regulatory matters, labor and employment law, and corporate governance. She represents a wide variety of clients, including public and private companies, private equity funds and government entities. Ali also is a member of the firm’s pro bono committee and received the Proskauer Rose Golden Gavel Award in 2009 for outstanding pro bono service. She focuses her pro bono efforts on victims of domestic violence by providing assistance in filing immigration petitions under the Violence Against Women Act, and through the firm’s 209A initiative in collaboration with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. She also represents children with special needs in obtaining entitled services and serves as pro bono counsel for a local animal shelter.


Articles By This Author

Getting Back to Basics: What Public Charities Should Know About Tax Exemption

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Alison M. Langlais

It is essential that all public charities understand the basic rules surrounding their exemption.  Indeed, achieving tax-exempt status is only half the battle – once an organization has established that it is tax-exempt, it must set up the proper checks to ensure that it meets ongoing compliance obligations.  Plainly, certain activities can jeopardize an organization’s tax-exempt status or subject it to penalties.  Because the IRS revised its Compliance Guide for Public Charities and we are in such a highly regulatory environment, we thought it would be helpful to discuss some of the basic rules surrounding tax exemption.

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Good Governance: The Bedrock of a Successful Not-for-Profit Organization

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Alison M. Langlais

Since the introduction of the revised Form 990 in 2008, the IRS has focused its attention on the governance policies and structures of not-for-profit organizations.  Now, more than ever, directors must be involved in ensuring their organizations are well-governed.  The revised Form 990 has a core form that is 11 pages long and may include up to 16 schedules – most of which inquire about an organization’s policies (conflict of interest, whistleblower, and document retention policies), compensation policy and practice, chapters and affiliates, gift acceptance, expense payments, fundraising, financial information regarding endowment funds and general procedures relating to meetings. 

 

The goal of the revision of the Form 990 is to increase transparency, encourage compliance, and emphasize the importance of ethics within a not-for-profit organization.  Given that so much emphasis has now been placed on “good” governance, it is increasingly important for not-for-profit boards to draft, adopt, and implement relevant governance policies – meant to be “living” documents reflecting the organization itself, and changing as an organization grows and develops.

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