UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits

09/17/2026

Join us on September 30th at 12:15 for lunch and a conversation with Elizabeth Frienberg and Aaron Lowestein from LA28! We will discuss the types of law involved in their work, their respective career paths, and insights about the upcoming Olympic Games in LA. 🥇 You can RSVP using the QR code or the link in our bio.

06/09/2026

"Rose Chan Loui, a legal expert at the University of California at Los Angeles who has helped non-profits navigate foreign agent report requirements, said US law is quite broad when it comes to actions that require registration, or what type of content would run afoul of federal statutes.
“It doesn’t matter what the content is, as long as you think it will influence the public’s opinion. That’s the only intent you need to have,” she said. “If they can say that you are acting as an agent of that foreign person, and you are engaging in political activities for that foreign principle, you are required to report those activities. ... If you know that what you’re doing can have the effect of influencing public opinion about that foreign entity, then [US law] can catch you.”

Eileen Wang, 58, worked with China to promote Beijing’s interests and could face up to 10 years in federal prison

05/13/2026

What happens if Elon Musk actually wins against OpenAI? This article explores the potentially seismic consequences for AI governance, nonprofit accountability, and OpenAI’s future as a for-profit company.

Our own Ellen Aprill of the Lowell Milken Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits offers an analysis that brings essential legal context to the debate. Her focus on the role of state attorneys general and the protection of charitable assets reframes the case as more than a clash of personalities, it’s a pivotal test of how nonprofit missions can (or cannot) evolve in the AI era.

Read the full Pucknews.fr article here: https://puck.news/what-happens-if-elon-wins-the-openai-trial/

As the messy Musk v. Altman trial enters week two, the A.I. industry has yet to grapple with the improbable but earth-shattering consequences if the jury actually sides with Elon. With an I.P.O. off the table, would OpenAI’s financial house of cards fall apart?

05/11/2026

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is more than a billionaire grudge match but also it's a stress test for how we hold AI companies to their founding promises. Our own Faculty Director, Jill Horwitz, of the Lowell Milken Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits explains this as OpenAI being like "an enormous tail on a tiny dog." The tail is the operating company worth nearly a trillion dollars while the dog is the nonprofit that's supposed to be steering it. She also draws a pointed contrast with Anthropic: "Anthropic may be behaving in a way that the public thinks is more charitable, but its legal duties to do so are a lot lower than OpenAI's." When a company explicitly and repeatedly commits to a public mission, does the law actually hold it to that? That's what an Oakland courtroom is about to find out.

Read the full article in KQED here:

Two Silicon Valley titans, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, face off in court starting Monday in a case that claims Altman and others enriched themselves by allegedly betraying OpenAI’s founding mission.