Jess Birken is the CEO and founder of Birken Law Office focused exclusively on nonprofit organizations. She launched the firm in 2016 with an emphasis on client experience and technology-forward legal services.

Birken began her legal career in criminal law before pivoting to the nonprofit sector. She returned to graduate school and earned a master’s degree in nonprofit management, then joined Pheasants Forever in a role that combined real estate law and state and federal grant administration. She subsequently joined a boutique nonprofit law firm as CEO and managing partner before founding her own practice.

Her firm advises nonprofits on the legal and compliance matters that arise as organizations grow, with a focus on helping mission-driven organizations navigate operational and regulatory challenges without losing sight of their core work.

Jennifer Reedstrom Bishop is a partner at Lathrop GPM where she has worked exclusively with nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years. She serves as practice group leader for the firm’s Health & Nonprofit Organizations practice group and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Bishop’s practice centers on the health care sector, where she advises physicians, hospitals, clinics and other health care entities on regulatory compliance, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, affiliations, medical staff matters, contracting and tax-exemption issues. She has particular experience in academic health care environments.

Beyond health care, Bishop serves as outside counsel to large academic-related foundations and private foundations, and assists start-up nonprofits and religious organizations. She counsels charities on accepting complex charitable gifts, including LLC interests and closely held stock, and advises on permissible scholarship restrictions under Title VI and Title IX.

Her representative clients include a medical school faculty practice plan with more than 1,100 physician members and the sole university-related foundation of a public land grant university.

Taft Partner Dimitrios Lalos practices in the firm’s Tax practice group. He concentrates a significant portion of his work on advising public charities, private foundations and other tax-exempt organizations on formation, governance, restructuring and the maintenance of their tax-exempt status.

Lalos regularly counsels health care organizations, schools, religious institutions, and civic and community groups on issues including public support tests, unrelated business income, executive compensation and day-to-day operational compliance. He is known for translating complex federal tax and exemption rules into practical guidance for boards and leadership teams, and works closely with accountants and other advisers to develop governance documents and policies that meet regulatory requirements while reflecting each organization’s individual mission.

His commitment to community service is reflected in his recognition on Taft’s Pro Bono Honor Roll in 2025 and as a North Star Lawyer by the Minnesota State Bar Association in 2024.

Kevin Berg, former chair of Accola, said Lalos was “hugely helpful and generous with his time and his expertise” in helping establish a new nonprofit and navigate its early challenges.

Kimberly Lowe is an attorney at Avisen Legal with more than 25 years of legal experience advising business, nonprofit and cooperative organizations. She counsels entrepreneurs, executive teams, boards of directors, multigenerational families, shareholders and investors across all phases of the business lifecycle, from formation through succession and exit.
Lowe’s nonprofit practice spans local, national and international public charities, churches, private foundations, trade associations, religious institutions and other tax-exempt organizations. She advises nonprofits on formation, operational strategy, regulatory compliance and board governance. Her broader practice includes corporate governance, real estate transactions, debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, complex reorganizations and compliance with SEC and IRS regulations.
Cooperatives represent a particular focus of her work, where she assists worker co-ops, purchasing collectives, housing entities and others across multiple industries in using the cooperative model to build shared value and long-term impact.
Lowe also provides crisis management counsel to for-profit and nonprofit organizations navigating internal investigations, governance restructuring, leadership transitions and reputational risk.

Sheryl Morrison is a partner in Lathrop GPM’s Private Client Services group in Minneapolis, where she has practiced for more than 35 years. She focuses on estate and wealth planning for individuals and families, and on charitable giving and gift management for nonprofit organizations of all kinds and sizes nationally.

Morrison earned a B.A. in English literature and philosophy magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1985 and a law degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1988.

For individual clients, Morrison advises on transfer tax strategies, business succession planning and complex estate and trust management. For nonprofit clients — including higher education institutions, health care organizations and other charities — she guides organizations through charitable gift acquisition programs, endowment giving and management, restricted gifts, gift acceptance policies and fund management. She is a frequent speaker at local and national associations on planned and complex charitable giving.

Morrison is a past board member and former chair of the sponsorship committee of the Minnesota Gift Planning Association.

Claire Topp is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Minneapolis, where she practices in the firm’s Health and Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Organizations practice groups. She focuses her work across three sectors: health care, tax-exempt organizations and standards development organizations.

In her health care practice, Topp advises multi-hospital systems on physician joint ventures, diagnostic imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers and regional service-line alliances. She also counsels individual physicians on employment agreements across a wide range of specialties. In her nonprofit and tax-exempt work, she has secured IRS tax-exempt status for organizations facing initial denials, advised hospital conversion foundations, structured cause-related marketing programs and helped philanthropists establish charitable giving vehicles.

Topp is a frequent lecturer on governance best practices, private foundation excise taxes, Stark II, Medicare/Medicaid fraud and abuse, and employment agreements for physicians, dentists and advanced practice nurses.

Peter Nelson, managing partner at Dorsey & Whitney, said Topp “consistently delivers practical, risk-aware solutions” that help nonprofits advance their missions within complex regulatory frameworks.