Cynthia R. Rowland

Partner

Ms. Rowland has extensive experience in tax and corporate law, including charitable giving arrangements to tax-exempt entities such as public charities, private foundations, museums, schools, and universities, trade associations and churches. She also provides advice on federal, state, and local tax issues to individuals, corporations, and partnerships.

Tax Exempt Organizations and Charitable Planning

Ms. Rowland possesses multi-disciplinary expertise in corporate and tax law to her business and tax practice. She has successfully obtained federal and state tax exemption status for a broad range of charitable organizations and has assisted them in all aspects of their missions, including entity formation, complex business transactions, mergers, and dissolutions. She is uniquely qualified to counsel trustees and directors of charitable organizations on fiduciary and tax issues, including those raised by actual and potential conflicts of interest, and issues raised by settlement of complex litigation involving the fiduciaries and/or the organization. She has successfully represented charitable organizations in matters involving breach of charitable trust, approval of compensation of insiders, sales of charitable assets and other matters over which the Attorney General has the right to notice or intervene. She has successfully obtained private letter rulings relating to complex federal tax issues.

Private Client Group

Ms. Rowland offers personal service and attention to high net worth individuals in achieving personal and family business and wealth transfer objectives. The Private Client Group provides cross practice expertise in tax, estate planning, business transactions, real estate, intellectual property, employment, and litigation matters to individuals, families, and closely-held business owners and investors. Our lawyers have served the trusts and estates and related needs of a large number of distinguished families for many years, assisting and advising them in the planning for their personal wealth and investments. Our Private Client Group lawyers engage in sophisticated personal estate and tax planning strategies, probate and trust administration, business succession planning and related legal services for family and individual clients.

Education

Ms. Rowland earned her undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame in 1983. Ms. Rowland earned her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco in 1988.

Professional Activities

Ms. Rowland is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. She served as Chair of the Committee on Nonprofit Corporations for the Business Law Section of American Bar Association from 2005 to 2008. She was a director and past chair of St. Mary's Medical Center Foundation and also served as a member of the Community Board of St. Mary's Medical Center from 2005 to 2008. In addition, Ms. Rowland is a frequent lecturer on nonprofit and tax topics and co-authors three chapters in the California CEB Treatise "Advising California Nonprofit Corporations."

Publications

Author, "UPMIFA, Three Years Later, What's a Prudent Director to Do?" Business Law Today (July/August 2009).