Deborah Z. Read

Practices

• Tax
• Health Care

Professional Experience

Deborah is Thompson Hine's firm-wide Managing Partner. In this capacity, she serves as the firm's Chief Executive Officer. She is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee, the principal governing body responsible for its strategic direction, financial affairs, and the oversight of its seven-office operations. Deborah has served as a member of the firm's Executive Committee for the past 11 years. She has also served in various management roles at the firm including Hiring Partner Chair of the 65-lawyer Tax, Benefits and Planning Department and Chair of the Lawyer Personnel Committee.

Deborah also spends some of her time as a practicing lawyer in the tax exempt, nonprofit corporate, and healthcare areas. She functions as outside general counsel to two large exempt organizations. She focuses her tax exempt practice on tax and corporate planning for nonprofit organizations and foundations and health care organizations. She assist clients in the formation of nonprofit entities, qualification of nonprofit entities for tax exempt status, conversions to and from exempt status, corporate reorganizations and liquidations, including reorganizations of exempt organizations, hospitals, and other health care providers, Internal Revenue Service Ruling requests, unrelated business income, lobbying, and political contribution tax compliance, tax reviews, and tax controversy work including Internal Revenue Service audits, appeals, and tax litigation. She advises organizations on nonprofit corporate law issues and nonprofit Boards on fiduciary duty issues. She counsels nonprofit organizations on best practices for corporate governance, including the application of Sarbanes-Oxley concepts to nonprofit organizations. She advises private corporate foundations about permissible charitable programs they may operate to advance charitable objectives for the employees of their corporate sponsors, including programs involving an international workforce. She counsels hospitals, physician groups, and health care providers on contractual relationships, corporate planning, acquisitions, and legal structures for affiliations, ventures and other business arrangements, including compliance with Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback and physician self-referral rules. Deborah is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Ohio.

Education

• Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1982
• Ohio University, A.B., 1979, summa cum laude

• How Women Lead; Spotlight on Leadership Series
• Women in Leadership Cleveland Leadership Center, Lunch with Leaders Series
• Options for Donors Seeking Influence Over Charitable Gifts: A Comparison of Private Foundations, Supporting Organizations, and Donor Advised Funds, Regional Exempt Organizations and Financial Advisors Forum
• Current Nonprofit Regulatory Trends: Are Your Practices in Need of Reform?, Lorman Education Services
• Emerging Standards for Nonprofit Board Governance (Including H.R. 4 Governance Provisions), Business Volunteers Unlimited
• Intermediate Sanctions: What Every Advisor Needs to Know, The Ohio Society of CPAs
• Research and Technology Transfer, American Health Lawyers Association
• Health Care Law Update, Health Care Financial Management Association of Ohio
• Developments in Nonprofit Governance: The Evolution of New Standards, Cleveland Tax Institute
• The Art and Science of Trusteeship, Grantmakers in Aging National Meeting
• Board Liability Under Intermediate Sanctions, Education Finance Council National Meeting
• Limited Liability Companies and Potential Uses by Health Care Providers, National Health Lawyers Association
• Taxable Subsidiaries and Limited Liability Companies, National Health Lawyers Association
• Chairperson, Exempt Organizations Session, Cleveland Tax Institute
• Use of Compliance Plans by Health Care Providers, Cleveland Society of Anesthesiologists
• Invited speaker on numerous topics for client presentation and the Cleveland Tax Institute

• Inside Business "2013 Power 100 List," the 100 individuals who most influence Northeast Ohio's economy
• 2012 Honoree Kaleidoscope Magazine "Women Who Give Back"
• 2012 "Women Worth Watching" by Diversity Journal
• Crain’s 2012 "Woman of Note"
• 2010 Athena Award
• 2006 YWCA Career Woman of Achievement
• 2006 Rainmakers, Northern Ohio Live
• 2001 Honoree Kaleidoscope Magazine Women Who Give Back - Salute to Women"
• 1998 Greater Cleveland United Way Volunteer of the Year
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America
• Named as a "Leading Lawyer" by Inside Business magazine