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As Managing Nonprofits Grows More Complex, Leake & Watts Welcomes Elise S. Zealand, JD, as In-House Legal Counsel to Provide Important Strategic Support 

Elise S. Zealand, JD, spent 18 years in the for-profit world, serving as general counsel of Penton Media, and as a litigator at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, among other positions. Although she performed pro bono services on a regular basis, her day-to-day work involved mergers and acquisitions, labor law, intellectual property, and litigation matters. But not nonprofit work.

However, Ms. Zealand relished her pro bono work, especially when it involved children and families, and decided to pursue this passion professionally. She has now joined Leake & Watts as general counsel, where, she says, “I am supporting people who are doing important work managing a dynamic portfolio of services for the most vulnerable people in our community. I feel that everything I have done has prepared me for this moment. Truth be told, I’ve never wanted a job more than this one.” Leake & Watts is an award-winning 186-year-old human-services agency that supports 12,000 vulnerable children, adults, and families in the Greater New York area.

Alan Mucatel, executive director of Leake & Watts, says, “With Elise, we feel we have selected someone who has extensive knowledge and experience in areas ranging from employment to contracts, from transactional work to litigation, and from hands-on practice of law to supervising outside counsel. On top of all that, she is deeply motivated to help us in our mission-driven work.”

General Counsels for Nonprofits: A Trend?

With 1,400 employees, 47 programs, 26 sites, and an annual budget of more than $100 million, Leake & Watts is a large and complex agency that merits an in-house legal counsel, according to Mr. Mucatel. Additionally, he notes, “the challenging and evolving risk-filled landscape for non-profits demands a strategic thinker with broad legal skills in the organization.”

Those risks for non-profit human-services agencies include reduced government funding; more people in need of multifaceted and coordinated services; more families fractured by the opioid epidemic; and lack of access to enough quality services for children shattered by trauma. Mr. Mucatel says other nonprofits are seeking in-house legal expertise so they are better prepared to meet these challenges.

“In today’s world, nonprofits have to be run as effectively and efficiently as any for-profit enterprise. This is prompting other larger nonprofit human-services agencies to create the position and hire in-house counsel,” he says. “Nonprofits need to be well-managed if they are to have a clear positive impact on individuals, families, and communities.”

Lawyers Seeking Nonprofit Jobs: A Trend?

Fortunately for nonprofits, it seems more lawyers want to do good as well. “Not-for-profit jobs are really competitive in the current climate, in which the safety net that supports our society is threatened,” Ms. Zealand says. “I am encouraged to see many lawyers making the decision to move into the nonprofit world.” Mr. Mucatel notes that interest in the Leake & Watts’ general counsel position “was extensive.”

About Elise S. Zealand

A resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Ms. Zealand has served as general counsel, corporate secretary, and vice president of Penton Media, the largest independent media company in the U.S., and worked as a senior litigator at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell as well as at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and was a law clerk to the Hon. William C. Conner of the Southern District of New York.

Ms. Zealand was awarded a JD by Columbia Law School, where she was honored as a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She was the writing and research editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. She received a B.A. magna cum laude in political science and creative writing/French from Loyola College of Maryland. She is admitted to the bar in New York and Connecticut.