Position: Partner
Organization: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Location: New York, NY
Victoria Bjorklund is a member of the Expert Advisory Group.
Victoria Bjorklund is a partner at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York, where she heads its Exempt Organizations Group. She advises public charities and private foundations on structure, governance, reorganizations, investments, and domestic and international grantmaking, and advises donors on charitable giving. Co-author of New York Nonprofit Law and Practice, she has served since 1989 as pro bono counsel to both the Robin Hood Foundation and Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, a recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Ms. Bjorklund is chair of the IRS's Tax Exempt/Government Entities Advisory Committee, and previously chaired the American Bar Association's Tax Section Committee on Exempt Organizations. Ms. Bjorklund was honored in 2002 as ABA Tax Section "Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year," and she has been recognized several times for work in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. In 2003, she received the Commissioner's Award, the highest honor the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service can bestow, for her "timely, creative and nimble response to 9/11's unprecedented legal challenges." She earned her J.D. from Columbia University, a Ph.D. in medieval studies from Yale University, and a B.A. magna cum laude from Princeton University.