Daniel Belin Bio and Experience
Law Practice
Law-Firms:
1963 – 1990: Member of McKenna Conner & Cuneo
1990 – 2000: Member of Belin Rawlings & Badal (Managing partner)
Specialties in law practice:
Trial lawyer specializing in business litigation and in trust and estate litigation; advisor to non-profit organizations; representation of trusts and estates and estate beneficiaries in the pursuit of their interests and the resolution of their disputes.
Consulting
Belin Associates and Belin Consulting: 2000 - present
Board Memberships
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The Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles – trustee 1980 – 2002
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Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York – trustee 1992 – 2007; board vice-chair 1997 - 2007
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art – trustee 1978 – 2003; board president and chair 1986 – 1994; elected life trustee 2003
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Carnegie Institution of Washington – trustee 1999 – 2009
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Other: Member and co-chair of Board of Advisors of the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture; member of Board of Advisors of the UCLA Medical School; member of board of trustees of Los Angeles Philharmonic Association; member of board of governors of the Music Center of Los Angeles; member of board of trustees of Los Angeles World Affairs Council; member of trustee council of National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Prior Experience
A major part of Mr. Belin’s law practice was focused on providing family and other foundations with legal advice on a regular basis. This work involved corporate and tax counseling, and assisting foundations through a variety of regulatory disputes and litigations with both state and federal authorities.
In his law practice, Mr. Belin also represented a number of grant-receiving non-profits, particularly universities, museums and other cultural institutions. His intensive involvement with grant-receiving organizations provided a valuable perspective in his ongoing representation of foundations.
Another dimension of Mr. Belin’s law practice was in the representation of estates and their executors, and in the representation of estate beneficiaries. This work was principally focused on the resolution of complex issues that developed during the course of estate administration. It included the successful pursuit of substantial tax claims against the Internal Revenue Service and various state taxing authorities, and the formulation of innovative strategies to break through deadlocks among beneficiaries whose relationships had become adversarial. It also included acting as a mediator so as to achieve an amicable resolution of sometimes extreme differences among the estate beneficiaries.
At the time that Mr. Belin was practicing law, he served as an active participant on boards of trustees of both foundations and grant-receiving organizations, in several instances as head of the board or of key board committees. In those capacities, he developed hands-on experience as a principal of and not solely as an advisor to the non-profit community.
Current Focus
In 2000, Mr. Belin left the practice of law to form Belin Consulting. Initially the firm’s principal clients were both foundations and grant-receiving non-profit organizations. Increasingly, its work has been on behalf of family foundations and focused on the resolution of issues presented through the administration of complex estates.
Education
Daniel Belin received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He worked as a mathematician in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Project Mercury before embarking upon the study of law. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.