Catholic Organizations

McDermott Will & Emery represents religious institutes of women and men, health care systems and facilities, and educational institutions in a wide variety of transactions and projects on both a national and international level. Our dedicated Catholic Organizations Practice, which includes a canon lawyer, has extensive experience in all facets of strategic and legal issues facing sponsors and their ministries. Beyond the particular types of projects highlighted below, we also serve as general counsel to Catholic institutes, systems and facilities throughout the United States, advising on canonical, corporate, transactional, medical staff, faculty, student, employment, intellectual property, antitrust, litigation and related matters.

Religious Institutes

We have counseled more than 80 religious institutes in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe and Eastern Europe on issues affecting their sponsorship responsibilities as well as internal matters. With this wide breadth of knowledge and experience, we are able to bring a special sensitivity to our work with communities of women and men religious. Significant areas with which we become regularly involved include:

Provincial/Congregational Mergers and Affiliations

Provincial and congregational consolidations and affiliations are complex transactions that present an array of challenging canon law and civil law issues. We have represented religious institutes in numerous consolidations, which have included the following:

Merger of United States provinces and of religious institutes
Merger of United States and foreign provinces of religious institutes
Protection of provincial assets from ascending and lateral liability claims
Formation of sponsorship boards
Affiliation of congregations and their ministries
Revision of Constitutions and Statutes of religious institutes to accommodate consolidations

Sponsorship

Sponsorship review and counseling
Canonical consultations and approvals, including requests for various indults
Alternative sponsorship models
Sponsorship policies
Strategic planning

Congregational Matters

Drafting of Constitutions for religious institutes
Consultation related to internal organizational and operational matters
Immigration matters
Charitable trust development

Health Systems and Facilities

We represent Catholic health systems and facilities across the wide spectrum of activities in which these organizations become engaged. In our work, particular attention is given to the unique aspects of the Catholic ministry and its special relationship to its sponsor(s) and the Catholic Church. Particular experience which we have in working with systems, facilities and their leaders includes the following:

System co-sponsorships, mergers and acquisitions
Facility joint ventures, affiliations, mergers, acquisitions, sales and closures
Collaboration between Catholic and other-than-Catholic systems and facilities
Public/Private juridic person formulation
Governance restructuring
Board education
CEO retention and transition
Charity care policy formulation
Federal and state government investigations
Regulatory compliance reviews
Ethical and Religious Directive compliance, counseling and review