Guide to Representing Religious Organizations

The Guide to Representing Religious Organizations addresses critical issues and risk factors of concern for religious organizations ranging from formation and governance, to taxes, fundraising and employment issues, and property rights. It outlines the general requirements of applicable law and highlights areas in which religious organizations receive special consideration under the law. The Guide's topical discussions are well organized for ease of reference. This book will assist attorneys who are asked to represent religious organizations as well as provide general information for religious leaders faced with a legal challenge.

Lisa A. Runquist, Attorney at Law, is located in Northridge, California. She has over 40 years of experience representing nonprofit organizations and has been rated AV Preeminent (highest rating given by Martindale-Hubbell) for over 30 years.  She is the first winner of the Outstanding Lawyer Award, a Nonprofit Lawyers Award presented by ABA Business Law Section, and in 2010 became the first person to win both the Outstanding Lawyer Award, and the Vanguard Award for lifetime achievement.  She has authored and edited numerous publications on nonprofit and religious organizations, including Guide to Representing Religious Organizations, 2009, The ABC’s of Nonprofits, 2nd edition, 2015, El ABC de las Organizaciones Sin Fines de Lucro, 2016, and editor of Nonprofit Resources, 2007.  She is a member and former chair of the State Bar of California Nonprofit Organizations Committee; a member of ABA-Tax Law Section Exempt Organizations Committee and chair/former chair of several of its subcommittees; a member and former chair of the ABA-BLS Committee on Nonprofit Corporations and various subcommittees; and former member of the Corporate Laws Committee.  She is the ABA-BLS Liaison to the ALI Restatement of the Law Charitable Nonprofit Organizations. She was the ABA Advisor to the ULC Committee to Amend the Uniform Unincorporated Association Act (finalized in 2008), and to the ULC Drafting Committee on the Uniform Protection of Charitable Assets Act (finalized in 2011).  She was appointed by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability to serve on the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations, Panel of Legal Experts which provided input to Congress on major accountability and policy issues affecting religious and nonprofit organizations, and is an Editorial Advisor for ChurchLawAndTax.com.  She is an adjunct professor of law at Trinity Law School, and an adjunct faculty member of Shiloh University.

Jeannie C. Frey is Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Christus Health, a multi-national nonprofit health system with operations in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mexico and Latin Americal.  She is a former Chair of the ABA Business Law Section (2021-22). Ms. Frey was previously General Counsel of Presence Health, a nonprofit health system based in Chicago, Illinois, and formerly General Counsel of Resurrection Health Care, one of the predecessor systems of Presence Health. Prior to going in-house in 2004, Ms. Frey was a partner in the Chicago office of McDermott, Will & Emery, where she specialized in health law, nonprofit healthcare mergers and acquisitions, and nonprofit corporate governance. Ms. Frey has written and spoken widely on topics relating to health law and nonprofit organizations. She served as Managing Editor of the 2nd edition of The Guidebook for Directors of Nonprofit Corporations (ABA 2002) and Executive Editor of the 3rd edition (ABA 2012). As a member of the ABA's Special Committee on Nonprofit Governance, she served as the primary author of the best-selling Guide to Nonprofit Corporate Governance in the Wake of Sarbanes-Oxley (ABA 2005). Ms. Frey was a member of the Drafting Committee of the revised Model Nonprofit Corporation Act (ABA, 2008). She also served as an Executive Editor of the Guide to Representing Religious Organizations (ABA, 2009) and of Nonprofit Management and Governance (3rd Ed.) (ABA, 2011). Ms. Frey served as Chair of the Nonprofit Organizations Committee of the Business Law Section of the ABA from August 2002 to August 2005, Chair of the Section's Publications Board, and member of the Section's governing Council, before serving as a Section officer and Chair. In 2000, Ms. Frey received the Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award from the ABA's Nonprofit Organizations Committee. She served as a Board member of the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys from 2006-2011. From 2004 to July 2012, she was a member of a special Task Force of the Illinois Hospital Association focusing on hospital charity care and property tax issues. Ms. Frey earned a B.A. degree with highest honors from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School.