Wendell Bird

Wendell Bird is an American legal historian who formerly practiced law (nonprofit organizations and litigation).

He is the author of four books on freedoms of speech and press: Press and Speech Under Assault (Oxford University Press 2016),^[1] Criminal Dissent: Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts (Harvard University Press 2020),^[2] The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech: From Blackstone to the First Amendment and Fox's Libel Act (Oxford University Press 2020),^[3] and of Religious Speech and the Quest for Freedoms (Cambridge University Press 2023).^[4] He has also published legal history chapters and articles.^[5] He earned his D.Phil. in legal history at University of Oxford,^[6] and his J.D. from Yale Law School.^[7] He is a visiting scholar at Emory University School of Law.^[8]

He has published three tax chapters and more than 20 articles on the laws affecting nonprofit organizations and charitable giving.^[9] He has been an annual faculty member of the Washington Non-Profit Legal & Tax Conference for over 30 years,^[10] and is a member of the Board of Advisors of the RIA Thomson Reuters publication, Taxation of Exempts.^[11] He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of New York University School of Law's National Center on Philanthropy and the Law.^[12]

In litigation Bird primarily represented securities claims, such as a suit against Merrill Lynch and its Focus Twenty Fund,^[13] or a suit against TH Lee Putnam Ventures and Merrill Lynch,^[14] both of which resulted in favorable decisions; and charitable fraud and diversion claims, such as a suit on behalf of the M. L. Simpson Foundation.^[15][16] In 2004, Bird represented APA Excelsior III (owned by predecessor to APAX Partners) and other large Wall Street private equity funds (managed by APAX Partners) in a federal court lawsuit alleging securities law violations in connection with a sale to Healthfield Holdings, Inc.^[17][18]

In 2000-2002, he represented the Bengard Group in a trial and appeal involving sale of a business, winning in excess of $44 million.^[19]

In the early 1980s, Bird worked for an Atlanta law firm, and also served as a special assistant attorney general for the State of Louisiana, for which he argued Edwards v. Aguillard to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[20]

Bird graduated from Vanderbilt University (B.A., summa cum laude).^[21] While at Yale Law School, he served on the Yale Law Journal Board of Editors,^[22] and received the Egger Prize of Yale Law School.

He is a member of the American Society for Legal History and of the Society for Historians of the Early Republic. He is also a member of the American Law Institute,^[23] a fellow of the American Bar Foundation,^[24] and was co-chair of the American Bar Association Subcommittee on Charitable Contributions for nearly 20 years.^[21] He is listed in Who's Who in America (1995–present) and Who's Who in the World (1995–present).^[21]

• Wendell R. Bird, "Religious Organizations and Tax Law," Federal and State Taxation of Exempt Organizations, Chapter 4, Warren Gorhan & Lamont Publishers, 1994.^[21]
• Wendell R. Bird & Russell Reach, "Unrelated Debt-Financed Income," 8 CCH's Federal Tax Service J: Chapter 6 (1995).^[21]
• Wendell R. Bird & Russell Reach, "Debt-Financed Income," Bender's Federal Tax Service J: Chapter 6 (1988).^[21]
• Wendell R. Bird, "No Relief But Much Red Tape for Charities and Foundation," 17 Taxation of Exempts 201 (2006).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird, " IRS Offers Guidance on "Election Year Issues" for Exempt Organizations," 15 Taxation of Exempts 269 (2004).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird, "Charitable Giving Techniques and Other Estate Techniques," Journal of Retirement Planning at 9 (Nov.-Dec. 2003).^[25]
• Wendell R. Bird, "The Shape of Charitable Gift Planning After 'Repeal' of the Federal Estate Tax," 14 Taxation of Exempts 114 (2002).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird, "Political Activities and Exempt Organizations," 12 Journal of Taxation of Exempt Organizations 243 (2000).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird, "Exempt Organizations Rules on Political Activities," 7 Journal of Tax Exempt Organizations 195, (1996). [31]
• Wendell R. Bird & Harvey Koning III, "Exempt Organizations Face Sales and Use Taxes in the Aftermath of Quill," 6 Journal of Tax Exempt Organizations 16 (1994).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird & Timothy W. Townsend, "Current Developments in the State and Local Taxation of Exempt Organizations", 4 Journal of Tax'n of Exempt Org. (WGL) 20 (1992).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird & Timothy W. Townsend, "Sales Tax Relief Not Automatic for Tax-Exempt Entities," 2 Journal of Multistate Taxation 203 (1992).^[9]
• Wendell R. Bird & T.O. Kotouc, "Exempt Religious Organizations Have Strict Limits", 48 Taxation for Accountants 207 (1992).^[9]

• Full text of doctoral thesis, "Freedoms of press and speech in the first decade of the U.S. Supreme Court" via Oxford Research Archive