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NJL People: Sara Gross Methner

Sara Gross Methner

Attorney, Chief Attorney Talent Officer

Sara is an accomplished attorney whose strategic counsel and practical insights help educational, charitable, and other mission-driven organizations achieve their goals with integrity and efficiency.

Sara’s unique, multidisciplinary expertise and multifaceted experience set her apart. With wisdom gleaned over a career including nonprofit and for-profit general counsel, non-legal executive leadership, and governing board roles, Sara is an adept strategist skilled in unraveling complexity and crafting bespoke solutions that serve clients’ immediate needs while also advancing their long-term goals. She deploys her legal and business acumen to support clients in various capacities, including:

  • Advising Governing Boards and Senior Leaders: Providing best-practice governance advice and pragmatic counsel on complex, multidisciplinary, and strategic matters.
  • Supporting New, Solo, or Overburdened In-House Counsel: Guiding and extending the capacity of new general counsel, solo practitioners, and overburdened legal departments.
  • Serving as Outside, Fractional, or Interim General Counsel: Offering responsive legal advice and management of clients’ legal affairs without a full-time commitment.
  • Conducting and Managing Sensitive Investigations: Handling investigations with discretion, thoroughness, independence, and practical awareness.
  • Navigating High-Stakes Issues: Identifying, understanding, and mitigating reputational and operational risks while advancing objectives in alignment with organizational values and risk tolerance.

As the Chief Attorney Talent Officer for Nilan Johnson Lewis, Sara plays a pivotal role in fostering our team of highly dedicated and skilled attorneys, focused on delivering exceptional counsel and service to our clients.

Key Practice Experience

  • Academic freedom
  • Academic program dissolution and divestiture
  • Affiliations and collaborations, including religious affiliations 
  • Art and archival collection policies, loans, and exhibitions
  • Charitable gifts, grants, and scholarships
  • Corporate governance, regulation, and compliance 
  • Crisis management 
  • Education law compliance
  • Faculty matters and shared governance
  • Interim, fractional, and outside general counsel services 
  • Investigations 
  • Policies and procedures 
  • Political activity and issues advocacy  
  • Public communications and disclosure 
  • Student matters, policies, and risk management  
  • Title IX compliance, investigations, and litigation 

Key Industry Experience

  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Higher education 
  • Pre-K-12 education 
  • Membership associations 
  • Religiously affiliated organizations

Representative Matters

Nonprofit Governance and Management

  • Worked with governing boards and senior leaders to develop and implement customized corporate governance programs, policies, and templates
  • Developed and assisted governing boards and senior leaders with board operations and engagement, including onboarding, training, evaluation, succession planning, and meeting planning  
  • Advised governing boards and management regarding conflicts of interest 
  • Worked with board investment committees to enhance investment and endowment fund governance, including advising on investment policies 
  • Advised governing boards, committees and management related to material transactions, investigations, litigation, and strategic initiatives  
  • Advised organizations on internal and external communications related to material risks, transactions, and developments involving potential reputational or regulatory concerns
  • Developed and led the implementation of a wide range of organizational policies
  • Developed and negotiated a wide range of contracts and contract templates

Interim, Fractional, and Outside General Counsel

  • Served as interim general counsel for nonprofit public media organization and supported onboarding and integration of new general counsel 

Investigations

  • Conducted internal investigation and managed litigation, insurance recovery, and response to regulatory investigation of multimillion-dollar fraud matter 
  • Represented religiously affiliated institution in connection with investigations and public communications related to matters involving sexual abuse allegations against clergy and others 
  • Conducted investigations and advised clients related to alleged employee misconduct and violations of legal and regulatory requirements 

Matters Unique to Higher Education

  • Represented university in its successful resolution of Title IX litigation 
  • Represented university in its successful response to an adjunct faculty unionization campaign 
  • Collaborated with university faculty and administration to develop and implement a new faculty grievance policy and process
  • Advised on faculty and student educational collaborations, including with an internationally recognized band to engage K-12 students worldwide in collaborative creative projects, and with an internationally recognized aerospace company to conduct student-developed experiments in space 
  • Advised on compliance with federal financial aid rules and assisted in implementing changes to associated program and policies 
  • Advised on development and administration of emergency assistance programs for university students and employees
  • Advised on development of college advisory boards charters and policies
  • Represented university in dissolution and divestiture of departments, centers, and programs

Recognitions and Honors

  • Qualified as a mediator under Rule 114 
  • Listed as a Minnesota Rising Star by Law and Politics Magazine (now Super Lawyers owned by Thomson Reuters), 2005-2006 

Selected Publications and Presentations

  • Presenter, “Dueling with Dual Interests: Building Effective Conflict Management Programs for Governing Boards and Senior Leaders,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 28, 2024
  • Presenter, “Navigating the Ethical Landscape: Supervisory Practices in Law Firms,” Ramsey County Bar Association, June 20, 2024
  • Quoted in Bressler Risk Blog: Latest News & Updates, May 2, 2024
  • Quoted in “Quandaries & Quagmires: Navigating the Ethical Landscape: Supervisory Practices in Law Firms,” Minnesota Lawyer, April 22, 2024
  • Presenter, “Navigating, Thriving and Leading Through All Seasons of Our Careers,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 28, 2023
  • Presenter, “2023 Race Discrimination Case Update – Takeaways from Recent Cases, Plus Potential Impact of SCOTUS College Admissions Cases,” Minnesota CLE, 2023 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 18-19, 2023
  • Presenter, “What Every Corporate Counsel Should Know About Nonprofit Corporate Governance,” Minnesota State Bar Association CLE, April 19, 2023
  • Presenter, “Navigating Challenging Professional Conversations,” Hennepin County Bar Association Institute for Leadership in the Legal Profession, March 15, 2023
  • Presenter, “Fiduciary Duties in Real Life,” Minnesota CLE, 2023 Nonprofit Law Conference, March 14, 2023
  • Presenter, “Playing Your Hand: Managing Restricted and Complex Gifts and Funds,” Minnesota Council on Nonprofits Finance and Sustainability Conference, March 31, 2022
  • Presenter, “Free Speech Policies on Campus: Best Practices and Common Pitfalls,” National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting, February 8, 2021
  • Presenter, “Election Season Is Here, But Are Students and Employees? Political Activity During a Global Pandemic,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Webinar, September 23, 2020
  • Presenter, “A Reckoning on Race for Higher Education: Next Steps and Legal Considerations for Campuses,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Virtual Mini Workshop, September 16, 2020
  • Presenter, “Election Season Is Here!” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 22, 2020
  • Author, “A Catholic University Approach to Campus Speech: Using Constitutional Academic Freedom to Hold the Tension of Free Speech, Inclusive Diversity, and University Identity,” 15 U. St. Thomas L.J. 358 (2018-2019)
  • Presenter, “Doing More with Less: Surviving and Thriving with Limited Law Office Resources,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 26, 2018
  • Presenter, “Update on Organizing Campaigns – Adjuncts, Graduate Students, and Athletes Oh My!” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 27, 2017
  • Presenter, “Spotlight on Graduate Students: Affordable Care Act, Intellectual Property, and Unionization,” National Association of College and University Attorneys Webinar, July 27, 2016
  • Presenter, “Unionizing in Higher Education,” National Association of College and University Business Officers Annual Conference, July 20, 2015
  • Presenter, “Adjuncts, Grad Students, and Student Athletes – Navigating Union Organizing and Collective Bargaining on Campus: Competitive, Cooperative, or Somewhere in Between?” National Association of College and University Attorneys Annual Conference, June 30, 2015
  • Presenter, “Unionizing in Higher Education,” National Association of College and University Attorneys General Counsel Institute, January 24, 2015

Professional Associations

  • National Association of College and University Attorneys
    • Committee on Finance and Audit, 2015-2021, 2023-2024
    • Subcommittee on Investments Chair, 2018-2019
    • Board of Directors, 2016-2019
  • National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Legal Services Review Panel, 2019-2022
    • Chair, 2021-2022
  • National Collegiate Athletic Association, General Counsel Advisory Board, 2017-2022
  • American Bar Association, Business and Law Practice Divisions
  • Minnesota State Bar Association, Business Section
  • Hennepin County Bar Association

Community Involvement

  • Page Education Foundation Mentor, 2023-present
  • YWCA St. Paul, Board of Directors, 2016-2021
    • Treasurer and Finance, Audit, and Compliance Committee Chair, 2019-2021
    • Governance Committee Chair, 2016-2019
  • DeLaSalle High School, Board of Directors, 2017-2021
    • Secretary, 2019-2021
  • VocalEssence, Board of Directors, 2006-2007
  • Sunny Hollow Montessori School, Board of Directors, 2004-2008
    • Chair, 2006-2007

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