Ms. Drummond was former in-house counsel at The Nature Conservancy and Associated Builders & Contractors; joins country’s leading advisor to nonprofits and trade organizations

Adding to its stature as the country’s leading advisor to non-profit organizations and trade associations, Venable LLP announced that veteran NGO and associations attorney Anita Drummond has joined the firm as a counsel in its Washington, DC office.

Ms. Drummond arrives directly from The Nature Conservancy, the nation’s largest and best-endowed environmental nonprofit, where she served as associate general counsel for the last decade.

At the Conservancy, Ms. Drummond led a large team handling legal and compliance related issues on six continents. She helped lead the Conservancy’s expansion into new geographies, structured major partnership arrangements, developed new sources of revenue and mission activities, and created new investment vehicles. She also supported the chief compliance officer and director of internal audits in international compliance and risk issues.

Ms. Drummond provided legal counsel on the numerous issues faced by NGOs, including laws governing charitable organizations, private and public funding sources, investment vehicles, human resources, intellectual property, technology, government relations and marketing.

Ms. Drummond previously was director of legal affairs at the Associated Builders and Contractors, the leading trade organization for the U.S. construction industry. She provided oversight of over 50 affiliated chapter organizations and served as a spokesperson to Congress, Federal agencies and the media. Her work helped move the ABC into international NGO status.

Jeffrey Tenenbaum, Chair of Venable’s market-leading Nonprofit Organizational Practice Group, said of Ms. Drummond’s arrival: “Trade organizations and non-profit groups face extremely complex rules and regulations in so many areas of their operations – from specialized tax and financial reporting requirements to strict ethics and compliance regulations.

“Anita Drummond has seen it all in her career,” he continued, “overseeing the legal departments at two of the country’s preeminent charities and trade groups in The Nature Conservancy and the association for the building trades. She understands how non-governmental organizations need to operate, including drawing on traditional corporate business models in order to advance their goals. Her addition to our Nonprofits group will be a major benefit to our many clients in this sector.”

Venable’s nonprofit organizations practice represents more than 650 clients and has long been one of the top ranked nonprofit practices, including being named as a Top Tier firm by both Legal 500 and Best Lawyers.

“I have worked closely with Venable attorneys for many years, having called on the firm as outside counsel, and have always been impressed with how the firm thinks ahead on all issues impacting charities and NGOs,” she said.

“Venable’s nonprofit group, widely recognized as the finest in its class, provides a holistic approach in servicing the needs of its nonprofit clients. I’m eager to apply my long experience from the inside to helping the firm’s roster of leading trade and professional associations, charities, philanthropies, tax-exempt institutions and other nonprofit organizations succeed.”

Ms. Drummond received her J.D. from George Mason University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Central Florida.