Lighting the path to a better future.
Counsel on the issues that actually cross your desk. Licensed in NY, DC, MA, and CT. Initial 30-minute consultations are complimentary.
Counsel on the issues that actually cross your desk.
Your Form 990 is due. A donor is asking about a restricted gift. Your board chair just resigned, and the bylaws are ambiguous about succession. A state regulator wants a copy of your last three fiscal years’ audits. You need counsel who won’t need a primer first.
Commonlight Legal is a boutique law firm serving 501(c)(3) public charities and private foundations, fiscal sponsors, charter schools, and private and independent schools across New York, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and Connecticut. We advise executive directors, board chairs, and senior leadership on governance, compliance, employment, advocacy, administrative law, and transactional questions that determine whether a mission-driven organization can sustain itself and grow.
Six practice areas, drafted for nonprofit realities.
Outside General Counsel
Fractional in-house counsel. Strategic Counsel Subscription (5–20 hrs/mo) or Fractional GC (25–40 hrs/mo). Board-meeting attendance included.
Explore OGCEntity Formation & Governance
State formation, Forms 1023/1023-EZ/1024, bylaws, fiduciary-duty counseling, ongoing 990 and charitable-registration compliance.
Explore FormationEmployment & Labor
Policies, handbooks, classifications (employees, contractors, volunteers), wage-and-hour, dispute counsel — counseled by an attorney who's seen both sides.
Explore EmploymentAdvocacy & Lobbying Compliance
501(c)(3) advocacy limits, 501(h) elections, 501(c)(4) structures, federal and state lobbying registration. Advocate boldly and do it right.
Explore AdvocacyCharter & Independent Schools
Authorization, federal CSP grants, administrative appeals before the CT SDE and Superior/Appellate Court, special-education reimbursement.
Explore SchoolsLitigation: Administrative Law
A focused niche practice. Charter-school administrative appeals today; expanding into adjacent nonprofit administrative-law matters. Not general civil litigation.
Explore LitigationPro Bono Representation
We represent nonprofits at risk through We The Action's Nonprofit Legal Defense Network and serve as board directors and trustees.
Learn MoreWe highly recommend Commonlight Legal. Lauren Koster steered us through the legal fundamentals of developing a grants program while honoring our very specific mission, strategy and audience. Attentive, patient, and efficient — Commonlight provides excellent value for their services.
— Tom Chase, Executive Director, Village & Wilderness Project
Clients we serve.
Public Charities
Operating 501(c)(3)s.
Private Foundations
Family and independent.
Fiscal Sponsors
And sponsored projects.
Charter Schools
Authorization to appeals.
Substantive analysis on the legal questions shaping the nonprofit sector, whether charter school litigation, the increasing presence of AI and its governance ramifications, or the shifting federal enforcement environment. No filler.
Substantive analysis, no filler.
Practical answers to the legal questions nonprofit leaders face most, from employment compliance and board governance to tax-exempt status and advocacy rules. Written for executive directors and board chairs, not lawyers.