Lorraine Sciarra—General Counsel

Work

Lorraine joined Audubon in July 2011 to lead the Office of General Counsel, which provides a wide array of legal advice and services to individuals and offices across the Audubon network. Since arriving, Lorraine has been particularly focused on governance, finance, employment and litigation matters, and on bringing greater attention to the legal needs of the field offices. She staffs the Litigation Subcommittee of the Board and helps support the Art, Audit, Investment and Land Committees.

Background

Lorraine has over 25 years of experience in taxation and not-for-profit law.  Prior to coming to Audubon, Lorraine was Senior University Counsel at Princeton University, where her work encompassed not only her areas of transactional expertise such as charitable giving, endowments and governance, but also such diverse matters as the seminal Robertson case and a series of complex negotiations with the Italian Ministry of Culture over alleged looted antiquities in the Princeton University Art Museum.

Before Princeton, she was associated with the Washington, D.C. office of Morrison & Foerster, and also worked for and represented several not-for-profit organizations including Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts in San Francisco. She clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. Lorraine’s commitment to the not-for-profit world and to conservation is evidenced by her own board service.  Currently, she is a trustee of the Wenner-Gren Foundation in New York City and chairs the board of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association in Hopewell, N.J.  Lorraine is a former chair of the ABA's Exempt Organizations Education Subcommittee.

Education

LL.M Taxation, Georgetown University Law Center
J.D., Boston University
B.A. Art History, Pomona College