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- Pamela S. Kaufmann
Intro
Pam is a 35-year veteran and is very experienced in the fields of senior care and housing and tax-exempt organizations. She advises life plan communities, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, hospices, home care agencies, PACE providers, affordable housing operators, and other providers at all phases: development (corporate structuring, financing, licensing, and tax exemption), operations (contracting, regulatory compliance, risk management, and nonprofit compliance), and delicensing or down-licensing.
As economics dictate or opportunities arise, Pam guides clients through mergers, affiliations, sales, joint ventures, expansions, repositionings, and dissolutions, including all attendant filings. She has intimate knowledge of the Attorney General approval process and interacts with the AG's office routinely. Pam also has a keen eye for corporate governance issues and routinely advises clients' boards of directors as they navigate these changes.
Pam's deep insight into clients’ operations and her extensive tax-exempt knowledge makes her a natural choice for borrower’s counsel when clients incur tax-exempt debt. She routinely works with the Cal-Mortgage program at the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
Pam has also collaborated with our bankruptcy team to guide a senior care client through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Pam remains on the cutting edge of legal reforms and developments in senior care and housing. She regularly speaks before the American Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, California Assisted Living Association, LeadingAge, and several LeadingAge state affiliates on issues including cannabis, psychedelics, aid in dying, violence, and mental health in senior care. She has contributed articles on these and other subjects (such as fair housing) to a wide variety of senior care journals. She has also written many scholarly articles on executive compensation and intermediate sanctions for tax journals including The Journal on Taxation, Taxation of Exempts, and The Exempt Organization Tax Review.
Pam is a long-time member and past chair of the national LeadingAge Legal Committee and has served on the LeadingAge California board of directors. She was also an active participant in various LeadingAge and LeadingAge California task forces and the state committees that rewrote California’s continuing care laws and introduced "care at home" legislation.
Pam is a co-author of the annual edition of the California Continuing Education of the Bar treatise, Advising California Nonprofit Corporations, and a past Chair of the Tax-Exempt Organizations Committee of the Taxation Section of the State Bar. A recognized specialist on nonprofit and tax-exempt issues, Pam testified before the IRS on intermediate sanctions issues and regularly advocates on behalf of the charitable sector.
Pam is an advocate of plain English and simple solutions.
Areas of Focus
Education
Admissions and Courts
Role
Intro
Pam is a 35-year veteran and is very experienced in the fields of senior care and housing and tax-exempt organizations. She advises life plan communities, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, hospices, home care agencies, PACE providers, affordable housing operators, and other providers at all phases: development (corporate structuring, financing, licensing, and tax exemption), operations (contracting, regulatory compliance, risk management, and nonprofit compliance), and delicensing or down-licensing.
As economics dictate or opportunities arise, Pam guides clients through mergers, affiliations, sales, joint ventures, expansions, repositionings, and dissolutions, including all attendant filings. She has intimate knowledge of the Attorney General approval process and interacts with the AG's office routinely. Pam also has a keen eye for corporate governance issues and routinely advises clients' boards of directors as they navigate these changes.
Pam's deep insight into clients’ operations and her extensive tax-exempt knowledge makes her a natural choice for borrower’s counsel when clients incur tax-exempt debt. She routinely works with the Cal-Mortgage program at the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
Pam has also collaborated with our bankruptcy team to guide a senior care client through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Pam remains on the cutting edge of legal reforms and developments in senior care and housing. She regularly speaks before the American Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, California Assisted Living Association, LeadingAge, and several LeadingAge state affiliates on issues including cannabis, psychedelics, aid in dying, violence, and mental health in senior care. She has contributed articles on these and other subjects (such as fair housing) to a wide variety of senior care journals. She has also written many scholarly articles on executive compensation and intermediate sanctions for tax journals including The Journal on Taxation, Taxation of Exempts, and The Exempt Organization Tax Review.
Pam is a long-time member and past chair of the national LeadingAge Legal Committee and has served on the LeadingAge California board of directors. She was also an active participant in various LeadingAge and LeadingAge California task forces and the state committees that rewrote California’s continuing care laws and introduced "care at home" legislation.
Pam is a co-author of the annual edition of the California Continuing Education of the Bar treatise, Advising California Nonprofit Corporations, and a past Chair of the Tax-Exempt Organizations Committee of the Taxation Section of the State Bar. A recognized specialist on nonprofit and tax-exempt issues, Pam testified before the IRS on intermediate sanctions issues and regularly advocates on behalf of the charitable sector.
Pam is an advocate of plain English and simple solutions.
Areas of Focus
Education
Admissions and Courts
LeadingAge California, Board of Directors Member
LeadingAge Legal Committee, former Chair
"Organizations Looking at Mergers, Affiliations Must ‘Get Their House in Order’," McKnights Senior Living (November 2023)
"A Good Hill to Try On," Seniors Housing Business (March 2020)
"2019 Health Care Law Trailblazers," The National Law Journal (May 2019)
"Quantifying Your Impact: Social Accountability," LeadingAge (January 2018)
AV Preeminent Attorney, The American Registry (2025)
Best Lawyers (2009-2025); Lawyer of the Year (2017, 2019, 2024)
California Lawyers Association, Wiley W. Manuel Pro Bono Legal Services Award (2019–2023)
Best Lawyers, Women in the Law Award (2016-2019, 2022-2023)
The American Lawyer, Woman Leader in The Law (2020)
Chambers and Partners USA, Healthcare
Martindale-Hubbell, Top Rated Lawyers in Healthcare Law (2013)
Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent Rating
Super Lawyers, Health Care (2010-2012)
Advising California Nonprofit Corporations, co-author, California Continuing Education of the Bar (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Editions)
Advising California Nonprofit Corporations, co-author, California Continuing Education of the Bar (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Editions)
"Psychedelics – A Mental Health Option in Senior Care?," California Assisted Living Association Spring Conference and Expo (June 2024)
"End of Life Options for Residents Who Lack Capacity," LeadingAge Oregon’s Annual Conference and Expo (May 2024)
"Selling Your Senior Communities Without Losing Your Mind," The LeadingAge California BOLD Annual Conference & Expo (May 2024)
"Psychedelics: Clearing the New Frontier in Mental Health Therapy," co-presenter, ABA Washington Health Law Summit (December 2023)
"Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out: Use of Psychedelics in Senior Living and Care," co-presenter, LeadingAge Washington Annual Conference (June 2023)
"Dealing with Challenging Families," co-presenter, California Assisted Living Association Fall Conference (June 2023)
"Culturally Competent Care for Happiness and Lower Risk," LeadingAge Annual Conference (May 2023)
"Critical Considerations for Providing Culturally Competent Care," CALA Fall Conference (November 2022)
"Work at Home; Care at Home," co-presenter, LeadingAge Annual Conference (May 2022)
“Mental Health Challenges Across the Care Continuum,” co-presenter, American Health Lawyers Association Annual Meeting (June 2019)
“What If Marijuana Were Completely Legal?”, co-presenter, LeadingAge Washington (June 2019)
“Continuing Care at Home: Is It Right for Your Organization?”, co-presenter, LeadingAge California (May 2019)
“Best Practices for Managing Cannabis Use in Seniors Housing,” Alberta Seniors Communities & Housing Association Webinar (March 2019)
“Resident and Employee Marijuana Use: Issues and Answers,” co-presenter, CALA Fall Conference (November 2018)
“A Candid Conversation About Cannabis,” co-presenter, California Assisted Living Association (June 2018)
"Governance: Legal Problems Your Board Can Avoid," webinar, Senior Living Business Interactive (November 2012)
"Executive Compensation: A Legal Perspective," co-speaker, LeadingAge (October 2012)
"Sane Corporate Compliance," Legal Issues Forum, LeadingAge (October 2012)
"Tips for a Successful Marriage: Joint Venturing in Senior Care," Aging Services of Washington (June 2012)
"Continuing Care at Home and Other At-Home Options, American Health Lawyers Association," LTC-SIR Practice Group Tutorials (January 2012)