Public Law Center

“Form 990 is reviewed by the audit committee chair before it is finalized and filed. A copy of the form 990 is transmitted electronically to the full board of directors before it is filed.”

“No director of this corporation nor any other corporation, firm, association, or other entity in which one or more of this corporation's directors have a material financial interest shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract or transaction, unless (a) the material facts regarding that director's financial interest in such contract or transaction or regarding such common directorship, officership, or financial interest are fully disclosed in good faith and noted in the minutes, or are known to all members of the board prior to the board's consideration of such contract or transaction; (b) such contract or transaction is authorized in good faith by a majority of the board by a vote sufficient for that purpose without counting votes of the interested directors; (c)before authorizing the transaction, the board considers and in good faith decides after reasonable investigation that the corporation could not obtain a more advantageous arrangement with reasonable effort under the circumstances; and (d) the corporation for its own benefit enters into the transaction, which is fair and reasonable to the corporation at the time the transaction is entered into. The foregoing restriction does not apply to a transaction that is part of an educational or charitable program of this corporation if it (a) is approved or authorized by the corporation in good faith and without unjustified favoritism and (b) results in a benefit to one or more directors of their families because they are in the class of person intended to be benefited by the educational or charitable program of this corporation. Plc employees are expected to devote their best efforts and attention to the full-time performance of their jobs. Employees are expected to use good judgment, to adhere to high ethical standards, and to avoid situations that create an actual or potential conflict of interest between the employee's personal interests and the interests of plc. A conflict of interest exists when the employee's loyalties or actions are divided between plc's interests and those of another, such as a competitor, supplier, or clients. Both the fact and the appearance of a conflict of interest should be avoided. Employees unsure as to whether a certain transaction, activity or relationship constitutes a conflict of interest should discuss it with the executive director. Some examples of potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to: 1. Engaging in self-employment in competition with plc; 2. Using plc information for personal gain; 3. Accepting substantial personal gifts from clients or volunteer attorneys; or 4. Using plc assets or labor for personal use. An employee may engage in outside employment, provided that such employment does not interfere with the employee's performance of their responsibilities at plc. Plc legal staff may not offer legal services outside of their plc responsibilities without prior approval of the executive director.”

“The board of directors has delegated to the board executive committee the annual review and compensation setting of the executive director. The executive committee reviews a compensation survey which relies on information from the form 990's of similar legal services organizations to determine the compensation of the executive director. The public law center does not have a written employment contract with the executive director. The deliberations and decision of the executive director's compensation is documented with the executive directors annual review.”

“The organization makes available to the public upon request its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements.”

“An updated audit oversight process in the by-laws, section 7, amended 10/28/19 as follows: section 7 nonprofit integrity act/audit committee in any fiscal year in which the corporation receives or accrues gross revenues of two million dollars or more (excluding grants from, and contracts for services with, governmental entities for which the governmental entity requires an accounting of the funds received), the board shall (i) prepare annual financial statements using generally accepted accounting principles that are audited by an independent certified public accountant ("cpa") in conformity with generally accepted auditing standards; (ii) make the audit available to the attorney general and to the public on the same basis that the internal revenue service form 990 is required to be made available; and (iii) appoint an audit committee. The audit committee shall not include paid or unpaid staff or employees of the corporation, including, if staff members or employees, the president or the treasurer. If there is a finance committee, members of the finance committee shall constitute less than 50% of the membership of the audit committee and the chairperson of the audit committee shall not be a member of the finance committee. The audit committee may include persons who are not directors. Subject to the supervision of the board, the audit committee shall: (a) make recommendations to the board on the hiring and firing of the cpa; (b) confer with the cpa to satisfy audit committee members that the financial affairs of the corporation are in order; (c) approve non-audit services by the cpa and ensure such services conform to standards in the yellow book issued by the united states comptroller general; and (d) if requested by the board, negotiate the cpa's compensation on behalf of the board.”

“To correct revenue not earned in the prior period.”