James J. Fishman

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.

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

• A Random Stroll Amongst Anthony Trollope’s Lawyers, 11 British Journal of American Legal Studies, Issue 1 Spring 2022
• The Private Foundation Rules at Fifty: How Did We Get Them and Do They Meet Current Needs? Pittsburgh Tax Rev. 2020
• How Big Is Too Big: Should Certain Educational Endowments’ Net Investment Income Be Subject to Tax? 28 Cornell J. of Law & Public Policy 159 (2019)
• Rethinking Riley: Applying Intermediate Scrutiny and Commensurate Standards to Judicial Evaluation of Regulation of Charitable Solicitation, 25 George Mason Law Review 471 (2018)
• Who Can Regulate Fraudulent Charitable Solicitation, 13 Pitt. Tax Rev. 1 2015
• What Went Wrong: Prudent Management of Endowment Funds and Imprudent Endowment Investing Policies, 40 J. College & 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 101 (2005)
• Charity Scandal as a Catalyst of Literary Imagination and Legal Change in Nineteenth Century England, Michigan State Law Review 1 (2005)

• Outstanding Academic Award for “distinguished academic achievement contributing to the nonprofit sector through scholarly work.” 2010

Nonprofit Law, Education Law, International Securities Regulation