David Atkin

Founder and Senior Attorney

David Atkin is the Founder and Director of the Center for Nonprofit Law. He has been deeply involved in the nonprofit sector for over 40 years and has worked with and helped thousands of nonprofit organizations.

David is a nationally recognized expert on nonprofit law. He has helped plan and has been a lead speaker for many of the Oregon State Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Seminars on Advising Nonprofit Corporations.  He helped start the Oregon State Bar’s Section for Oregon attorneys practicing nonprofit law, and he was the Founding Chair of that Section, the Nonprofit Organizations Law Section.  He recently was the lead author for the first chapters of the recently published formal Oregon State Bar’s Bar Book on Advising Oregon Nonprofits. 

David regularly presents educational seminars on nonprofit law for nonprofit organizations all over the country and leads seminars on nonprofit law for national educational organizations, and he regularly speaks at conferences for the leaders of nonprofit organizations.

In addition to his JD in Law, David has a BA in Biological and Environmental Sciences, an MA in Environmental Management, and a certificate of specialization in Environmental and Natural Resource Law. He was an adjunct Professor at the University of Oregon Law School for ten years, where he taught Public Land Law, Indian Law and Water Law.  Along with his legal work in the USA, David has also worked with many international nonprofit organizations around the world, especially in developing countries.

David worked as a Smokejumper for the U.S. Forest Service for ten years, parachuting into remote mountainous areas to fight forest fires. He is an experienced outdoors enthusiast and loves white-water rafting, camping, hiking, and scuba diving. He also loves carpentry projects and has done all the work to design and build his own house from the ground up.  David, his wife Lori, and their two sons live in Eugene.  They share a passion for country life, and they love to spend time working and playing on their family farm in southern Oregon.