James J. Fishman

  • Professor of Law Emeritus

Education

AB, University of Pennsylvania
AM, University of Pennsylvania
JD, New York University School of Law
PhD, New York University

James J. Fishman is a Professor of Law Emeritus at Haub Law. He served as James D. Hopkins Chair in Law during the 1997–1999 academic years. He has been the executive director of two nonprofit organizations, the Council of New York Law Associates (since renamed The Lawyers Alliance for New York) and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. 

Professor Fishman is the author of The Transformation of Threadneedle Street, a study of the deregulation of the U.K.’s securities markets, and The Faithless Fiduciary, a history of the enduring problem of opportunistic behavior by charitable fiduciaries, and the inability to create an effective system of oversight or accountability for charitable assets. He is coauthor (with Karen Alinauskas, Victoria B. Bjorklund and Daniel L. Kurtz) of New York Nonprofit Law and Practice with Tax Analysis (LexisNexis 3rd ed. 2014 with annual supplement), and Cases and Materials on Nonprofit Organizations (with Stephen Schwarz and Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer), (Foundation Press, 6th ed. 2021 with annual supplement.). He has written law review articles on nonprofit law, education, and international securities regulation. He serves on the boards of the Lotos Foundation, the NY Common Pantry, and the Trollope Society (USA).

Professor Fishman received bachelors’ and master's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and JD and PhD degrees from New York University.

Honors & Awards:
Outstanding Academic Award for “distinguished academic achievement contributing to the nonprofit sector through scholarly work.” 2010

Publications

SSRN

Books

Taxation of Nonprofit Organizations: Cases and Materials (with Stephen Schwarz)  New York: Foundation Press, 3rd ed. (2010); and Annual Supplement.

New York Nonprofit Law and Practice with Tax Analysis (with Victoria B. Bjorkland and Daniel L. Kurtz) Newark: Lexis 2nd ed. (2007) and Annual Supplement (3rd edition forthcoming 2015)

The Faithless Fiduciary and the Quest for Charitable Accountability: Charitable Scandal and Regulatory Reform 1200-2000. Durham: Carolina Academic Press (2007). [Reviewed 121 Harv. L. Rev. 684 (2007); 43 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 797 (2009)]

Cases and Materials on Nonprofit Organizations, (with Stephen Schwarz) New York: Foundation Press, 4th ed. (2010) with separate statutory supplement and teachers manual & Annual Supplement

The Transformation of Threadneedle Street: The Deregulation and Reregulation of Britain’s Financial Services, Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, (1993). [Reviewed 48 Business Lawyer 1753-1759 (1993)]

Limits of Justice: the Courts' Role in School Desegregation. Edited by James J. Fishman and Howard I. Kalodner. Cambridge: Ballinget Pub. Co., (1978).

Practicing Law in New York City. Edited by James J. Fishman and Anthony S. Kaufman. New York: Council of New York Law Associates, (1975).

Articles

What Went Wrong: Prudent Management of Endowment Funds and Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies”, 40 Journal of College and University Law 199 (2014)

"The Federalization of Nonprofit Regulation and Its Discontents", 99 Kentucky Law Review 799 (2011)

"Stealth Preemption: The IRS’s Corporate Governance Initiative", 29 Va. Tax Rev. 101 (2010)

"A Survey of Private Corporate, Trust and Tax Law in the United States Relating To Nonprofit Organizations" in Comparative Corporate Governance of Non-Profit Organizations, Von Hippel ed. Cambridge Univ. Press (2010)

"Wrong Way Corrigan and Recent Developments in Nonprofit Landscape: A Need for New Legal Approaches", 76 Fordham Law Review 567 (2007)

"Charitable Accountability and Reform in Nineteenth Century England: The Case of the Charity Commission," 80 Chicago-Kent Law Review 723 (2005).

"Charity Scandals as a Catalyst of Legal Change and Literary Imagination in Nineteenth Century England," 2005 Michigan State Law Review 369 (2005).

"Joseph Baxendale," 11 Texas Wesleyan Law Review 249 (2005).

"Tenure: Endangered or Evolutionary Species," 38 Akron Law Review 771 (2005).

"Improving Charitable Accountability," 62 Maryland Law Review 218 (2003)

"Taking a Lesson from New York's Billion-Dollar Blue Cross Heist," Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 21, 2002, at 38

"Tenure and Its Discontents: The Worst Form of Employment Relationship Save All of the Others," 21 Pace Law Review 159 (2000).

"Checkpoints on the Conversion Highway: Some Trouble Spots in the Conversion of Nonprofit Health Care Organizations to For-profit Status," 23 J. Corporation Law, 702 (1998).

"Director and Officer Governance Problems and How to Avoid Them," 26 NYU Conference on Tax Planning for 501(c)(3) Organizations 1 (1998).

"Tribute to Hervey M. Johnson," 13 Pace Law Review 6 (1993).

"A Comparison of Enforcement of Securities Law Violations in the United Kingdom and the United States," 14 Company Lawyer 163 (1993)

"Enforcement of Securities Laws Violations in the United Kingdom," 9 International Tax & Business Lawyer 131 (1991)

"Endless Journey: Integration and the Provision of Equal Educational Opportunity in Denver's Public Schools: A Study of Keyes v. School District No. 1," with Lawrence Strauss, 32 Howard Law Journal 627 (1989) abridged and reprinted in Flicker, ed. Courts' Roles in Education Litigation Phila.: Temple Univ. Press (1990).

"Tribute to Philip B. Blank," 9 Pace Law Review 383 (1989).

"Standards of Conduct for Directors of Nonprofit Corporations," 7 Pace Law Review 389 (1987).

"The Development of Nonprofit Corporation Law and Agenda for Reform," 34 Emory Law Journal 617 (1985).

"Due Process in Decisions Relating to Tenure in Higher Education," 39 The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 392 (October 1984).

"Family Choice: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?" 15 Urban Lawyer 113 (1983).

"The Emergence of Art Law," 26 Cleveland State Law Review 481 (1977).

"Protecting America's Cultural and Historical Patrimony," 4 Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce 57 (1976).

Book Reviews

Review of Honorable Justice: The Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 10 Pace Law Rev. 625 (1990).

Review of Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts (2nd Ed.) by J.H. Merryman and A. Elsen, and Art Law: Rights and Liabilities of Creators and Collectors by F. Feldman, S. Weil, and S. Duke-Biederman, 8 Pace Law Review 303 (1988).

Review of The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works: 1886 - 1986 by Sam Ricketson, 18 Journal of Arts Management and Law 82 (1988).

Review of Educational Policymaking and the Courts: An Empirical Study of Judicial Activism by Michael A. Rebell and Arthur R. Block, 4 Pace Law Review 195 (1983).

 

Review of The Desk Book of Art Law by Leonard D. Duboff and Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts: Cases and Materials by John H. Merryman and Albert Elsen, 10 Connecticut Law Review 742 (1978).

 

Chapter

"The IRS' Corporate Governance Initiative: Recommendations for Medium and Smaller Nonprofits," in Advising Nonprofit Organizations 2009 (2009).

"The Social and Occupational Mobility of Prosecutors: New York City." In The Prosecutor, edited by William F. McDonald. Beverly Hills: Sage Criminal Justice System Annual, vol. 11, 1979.

Papers

"Magnet Schools, Choice, and Educational Equity for Limited English Proficient Students," discussant, at Urban Education Seminar, sponsored by Multicultural Education Center, Baruch College, April 1991.

"Some Trouble Spots in the Law Relating to Non Profit Organizations," Faculty Forum, Brooklyn Law School, Feb. 1991; Faculty Colloquium, Pace Law School, March, 1991.

"New Approaches to Regulation of Charitable Solicitation," conference on "Charitable Solicitation: Is There a Problem," sponsored by the Program on Philanthropy and the Law, N.Y.U. School of Law, Oct. 1990.

"Equal Educational Opportunities for Bilingual Students," Symposium on Justice and School Systems, sponsored by Institute of Judicial Administration and N.Y.U. School of Law, Oct. 1990.