National Board of Trial Advocacy in Fka National Board of Legal Special
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042996246
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Wrentham, MA, USA
- Phone
- 5083846565
- Rating
- 47
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $797,885
- Expenses
- $703,660
- Assets
- $1,090,296
- Liabilities
- $426,452
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
35 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ELIZABETH LINDSAY (PRESIDENT)
- KATHIE PERRY (PRESIDENT EL)
- PROFESSOR JAMES WREN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN HEDSTROM (PAST EXEC DI): $103,846 total reported compensation
- JULIE TOMASETTI (ASSISTANT DI): $81,690 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The organization is devoted to improving the quality of trial advocacy and aiding consumers in their selection of experienced legal representation. The organization offers board certification in civil trial law, civil practice advocacy. Complex litigation, criminal trial law, family trial law, patent litigation, social security disability law, and truck accident law.
What it reported doing in 2024
Exams were administered to qualified candidates.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.8%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.55; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 28 of 28 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $104K · 35 people listed
- Consistency: 12 of 13 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.