Leonard M. Cole has been specializing in nonprofits and tax law for over 15 years, and has emerged as one of the foremost nonprofits lawyers in Maine. Before opening Cole Nonprofits Law in 2012, Len was the principal nonprofits-law attorney at Preti Flaherty LLP in Portland for four years, where he represented tax-exempt organizations, their directors, and philanthropists in a diverse range of matters with emphasis on tax and corporate planning. Len also advised nonprofits extensively at firms in New York City and Boston before coming to Maine.
Len provides effective, creative and practical solutions by drawing on significant experience with complex transactions. As a tax attorney with Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, he focused on private equity funds, mergers and acquisitions, and complex commercial real estate transactions, and at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in New York, he focused on taxation of securitization transactions.
Len’s clients benefit from the broad perspective he brings as an active participant and leader in the nonprofit community. He serves as Chairman of the Board of The Iris Network (www.theiris.org) and as a Director and Secretary of the Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP, www.nonprofitmaine.org). Len also served on the board of Baxter Academy for Technology and Science (www.baxter-academy.org), helping it obtain a charter from the Maine Charter School Commission and open Portland’s first public charter school. He is a frequent presenter of seminars for nonprofit directors and staff, accountants, and other attorneys. He is licensed to practice law in Maine, Massachusetts, and New York.
Len earned a J.D. cum laude from Duke University School of Law and a Master of Laws in taxation from New York University School of Law. Before becoming a lawyer, he was a professional drummer and denizen of the nonprofit sector as an admissions official at his alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston.