Attorneys: Contract Law Consultants: 5

Hi, I’m Jess Birken.

I am the owner of Birken Law Office. I'm a lawyer and I help nonprofits solve problems so they can quit worrying and get back to what matters most – their mission. I’m not like most attorneys, I actually have an outgoing personality, and – like you – I like to think outside the box. Most of my clients are passionate and have an entrepreneurial spirit. I’m like that too. My goal is to help you crush it. Getting bogged down in the minutia sucks the joy out of the important work. My clients want to do The Work – not the paperwork.

My Credentials

• BA, Sociology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (2001)
• JD, Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Magna Cum Laude (2007)
• MA, Nonprofit Management, Hamline University (2010)
• Certified Transformative Mediator
• Want more? Check out my LinkedIn profile.

My Biography

I am the former CEO & Managing Partner at Urban Birken PLLC, a boutique firm that focused on serving the nonprofit community. I have worked with nonprofit organizations for most of my career.

Before becoming a private practice attorney, I spent four years inside a national nonprofit organization, Pheasants Forever. In that role I managed about $50M in state and federal government grants and worked on hundreds of conservation real estate deals. I also gained a deep knowledge of just what it's like to work inside a nonprofit - not just tell people what to do. My strength in that role was working with staff, volunteers and government stakeholders to keep complex projects moving and maintain a zero defect environment for audit time.

Birken Law Video Introduction

Since that time, I have run my own firms. I’m now the owner of Birken Law Office a firm designed to help nonprofits. Ideal Client Engagements are nonprofits looking for a strategic partner who will give pragmatic advice and keep business operations on track so the mission work stays a priority. I love working with organizations that understand that 'nonprofit' is a tax status - not a business model.
My work experience entails largely business and compliance needs of nonprofit issues around:

Formation Executive Compensation HR Real Estate Property Tax Board / Staff Conflicts

Voting Member Issues Internal/External Stakeholder Conflict Government Grant Compliance Transactions Crisis Management

My Contact Information

You can contact me via e-mail or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Click here to schedule a free call now.

Coleman & Horowitt, LLP is a Civil Litigation and Transactions Firm. It provides a wide variety of services to businesses and individuals through its two departments. By concentrating in these areas, members of the firm have become exceptionally proficient in dealing with all phases of preventive law, litigation, alternative dispute resolution and the negotiation and preparation of documentation to meet the needs of today's businesses. The firm has a varied client base ranging from small family operations to large, publicly traded corporations.

Darryl Horowitt, Esq. has conducted all phases of litigation in the areas of Banking, Business Disputes, Securities Fraud (class action and individual), Construction, Real Estate, Environmental, Casualty Insurance Defense, Personal Injury and Commercial Collections, from initial client contact to settlement, mediation, arbitration and trial - court and jury (State and Federal Court) and administrative proceedings (before the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, National Labor Relations Board, California Department of Fair Housing and Employment, Worker's Compensation Appeals Board and Agricultural Labor Relations Board).

Mr. Horowitt has also assisted in transactions, including incorporation, purchase and sale agreements, secured and unsecured transactions, and employment contracts. In the field of alternative dispute resolution, he has served as an arbitrator (for the American Arbitration Association, NASD Regulation, Inc., Better Business Bureau Dispute Resolution Center, and the Fresno and Madera County Superior Courts), mediator (privately and for the Better Business Bureau Dispute Resolution Center), special master (for Judge James Ware, United States District Court, Northern District of California) and judge pro tem (Fresno County Courts).

Firm's Areas of Practice Include

Banking

Commercial Real Estate

Business

Casualty Insurance Defense

Construction Litigation and Transactions

Insurance Coverage

Environmental Law

Commercial Collections

Personal Injury Litigation

Alternative Dispute Resolution (mediation, arbitration and mini-trials)

Estate / Tax Planning

Profile: Mr. Freeman founded this firm in 1962, three years after graduating from Stanford Law School, and has been serving local and national clients ever since. His expertise inlcude matters relating to Real Estate business and development, Eminent Domain / Condemnation, Commercial Law, Civil and Commercial Litigation. He has authored several articles including "An Overview of Defenses Available to Guarantors of Real Property Secured Transactions Under California Law," 2 Santa Clara Law Review (1998).

Firm Profile: Serves as special litigation counsel to numerous government entities in eminent domain, inverse condemnation, tort and contract matters. The firm represents banks, real estate developers, contractors, food processors, growers and manufacturers. We serve as local counsel for many national companies in litigation, business and governmental matters.

The firm's litigation practice focuses on: complex business litigation, including class actions, coordinated and multi-district proceedings; land use, real estate, eminent domain and environmental litigation; insurance coverage/bad faith disputes; professional liability; and appellate proceedings. Our transactional practice encompasses complex commercial and real estate transactions, including buy/sell agreements, development agreements, mergers and acquisitions.

For more information, please contact us or visit our website.

Charles Taylor is a partner at Lang, Richert & Patch specializing in federal civil litigation. He has represented clients in areas such as Civil Rights, Government Contracts and Leases, Insurance Coverage, and Business Litigation in various federal district courts around the United States, in adversary proceedings in the bankruptcy court, and before governmental administrative boards.

Mr. Taylor specializes in all aspects of Employment Law, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination. He has represented local and national clients on various employment issues before the Labor Commission, Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Employment Development Department. In addition, he advises employers on preventing employment relations problems and on developing personnel policies and procedures.

Illustrative Case:

Engaged by bakery to defend against civil complaint filed by Department of Justice for alleged violations of Clean Air Act with over $3 million in potential penalties. Successfully negotiated dismissal of the case without penalty

Engaged by local concessionaire on government owned property after improper termination of lease. Actions litigated in both federal district court and before Contract Board of Appeals. Prevailed on entitlement issues after an 8 day hearing

Successful settlement on quantum before trial for in excess of $1.3 million

Successfully defended on summary judgment large grocery store chain by four female employees claiming sexual harassment and gender discrimination

Successfully defended regional employer for alleged wrongful termination in violation of public policy, fraud, tortious bad faith, and intentional infliction of emotional distress

William (Ned) McLeod, Esq., has been a party to many Licensing Arrangements as an attorney specializing in Intellectual Property in the Entertainment Industry (“IP”), both on the licensor and the licensee side of the table in different matters from hard media historical archives to blockchain based creations, and, as a non-attorney producer, both as owner  licensor and, alternately, as user / licensee.

As a result of his more than 40 years in the Entertainment Industry, Mr. McLeod has personally negotiated hundreds of licenses, and reviewed and evaluated hundreds more. His handling of licenses have covered a broad scope of venues and clientele, including The Rockefeller Center (NYC), the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and The Navy Pier (IL), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (TX, with 8 associated museums), Graceland (TN), Niagara Falls (NY), The Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center (FL), Port of Los Angeles (CA), National Harbor (DC), Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“Catholic Sisters,” MD), the Tupperware Center (FL), Gatorland (FL), the Orlando Ballet (FL), Bob Ross (painter), Cousteau family ventures, 7 years of the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (live and televised), and others.    

Consulting Services -  Mr. McLeod has been most effective serving the long term needs of someone unfamiliar with the entertainment trade. He helps teams :

• Reach a level of confidence in designing their venture step by step, through option and decision tree outlines, developing from content creation over a span of five years or more and identifying the desired stages of achievement for the work.
• Take a book idea through publication, licensing to media and exhibition platforms, and attaching merchandise and educational products that build out sustainable and successful models of exploitation, with seats for sequels.
•  Tent-polling a major artistic creation (e.g., a painting, graphic/comic series, story, song, a Non-Fungible Token item, or a celebrity brand), and designing the alliances and partnerships necessary for funding and moving to concentric wheels of ancillary and subsidiary derived products, experiences, and performances - all leading to revenue sharing.

View Ned McLeod's Expert Witness Profile.