|
 James
V. Lacy,
Treasurer and General Counsel
James V. Lacy is co-founder and managing partner
of Wewer & Lacy, LLP. Mr. Lacy has over 25 years
of experience as a manager and director of
nonprofit organizations, and has acted as legal
counsel to charitable organizations and other
nonprofits since 1979. Mr. Lacy advises clients
in obtaining and maintaining federal and state
tax exemption. He also assists public policy
organizations and trade associations in
obtaining the full range of nonprofit benefits
for their organizations, including: nonprofit
postal permits; organization of tax deductible
supporting charitable foundation subsidiaries;
and establishment of separate segregated funds
for political action. Mr. Lacy has experience
conducting executive benefits transactions, and
conducting administrative litigation in both
U.S. Postal Service appeals and state charitable
authority enforcement actions. Mr. Lacy also
conducts Federal and state court litigation on
first amendment public policy issues of concern
to nonprofit organization and individuals.
Mr. Lacy is admitted to practice in California
and the District of Columbia, and is admitted
before the United States Supreme Court, the
Federal Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Ninth,
and District of Columbia Circuits, and to
various Federal District Courts.
Previously, Mr. Lacy served as Chief Counsel for
Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce
from 1989-91. He was responsible for supervising
the legal department for the Technology
Administration, which includes the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
and the Office of Technology Policy.
Mr. Lacy served as General Counsel to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (1987-89),
where he played a key role in negotiating the
national safety settlement and Consent Decree
with the All-Terrain Vehicle industry approved
by U.S. District Court Judge Gerhard Gessell,
and managed other Federal court litigation
involving enforcement of product safety laws. He
also has served as Director of Export Trading
Company Affairs in the International Trade
Administration (1984-87), where he managed an
antitrust certification program for U.S.
exporters; and as a business liaison aide to the
late Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige
(1981-84).
In 1978, Mr. Lacy was a co-founding director of
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, with
California’s Proposition 13 author, the late
Howard Jarvis, which has grown to have the
largest membership of any taxpayer organization
in California.
Since 1975, Mr. Lacy has served on the Board of
Directors of numerous nonprofit organizations,
including the Ocean Institute, the American
Conservative Union, and Young America’s
Foundation, a charitable educational
organization, which now owns and maintains
former President Ronald Reagan’s “Western White
House,” Rancho del Cielo, in Santa Barbara,
California. Mr. Lacy was instrumental in opening
the negotiations which resulted in the
Foundation’s acquisition of the Western White
House, which is being preserved for its
historical value for future generations.
Mr. Lacy was appointed by the Board of Governors
of the California State Bar to the Committee on
Federal Courts (1995-98). He also has served as
a Member of the Administrative Conference of the
United States. He currently serves as a member
of the Republican State Central Committee of
California.
Mr. Lacy also handles significant First
Amendment litigation. He has served as counsel
of record in two important Federal court cases,
both resulting in permanent Federal court
injunctions against the “slate mail”
restrictions of Proposition 208 (2001) and
Proposition 34 (2002). Additionally, in 2000 Mr.
Lacy represented leaders of a nonprofit
organization and won a two-day trial in Orange
County Superior Court against City Council
Members of the City of Mission Viejo on seven
counts of violation of the state’s sunshine law,
the Brown Act. And in 2007, Mr. Lacy
successfully settled Brown Act claims for a
client against the Capistrano Unified School
District, resulting in negotiated sanctions
against the district to help stop closed session
abuses.
Mr. Lacy received his Juris Doctorate degree
from Pepperdine University and his undergraduate
degree in International Relations from the
University of Southern California, with summer
study in Switzerland at the University of
Geneva’s Cours sur les Institutions
Internationales. Mr. Lacy has published articles
in several journals, including the Stanford
Journal of International Law (“The Effect of the
Export Trading Company Act of 1982 on U.S.
Export Trade,” Volume 23, Issue 1, 1987).
He lives in the coastal community of Dana Point,
California with his wife, Janice, and their
Bavarian-born and titled German Shepard, "Ibo."
From 1998 - 2006, he served as a Planning
Commissioner, Chairman of the Planning Commision,
member of the City Council, Acting Mayor, and
Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Dana Point. Mr.
Lacy has also been a member of the Board of
Directors of the Orange County Fire Authority,
which is responsible for providing fire safety
and paramedic services to 22 cities in the
County. The son of opera singers, he and Janice
are dedicated supporters of the Metropolitan
Opera in New York City, and enjoy classical
music.
|
TEAM