Lillian A. Plata

Lillian A. Plata joined Conifer in 2022 and currently serves as Deputy General Counsel. In this role, Lillian is a key player on the in-house Legal Team. She provides legal services in connection with the development, ownership, and management of Conifer’s affordable housing portfolio. This includes transactional work related to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) syndications, debt financing, and property and portfolio acquisitions.

Prior to joining Conifer, Lillian served as a co-founding member of Nee Plata Law, LLC. in Roseland, NJ, where she provided tax and structuring advice to corporations, partnerships, developers, non-profits, and government entities on an array of complex multimillion-dollar transactions with a focus on syndicatingLIHTCs, New Markets Tax Credits, and Historic Tax Credits, as well as other federal and local tax credit and incentive programs including Opportunity Zones. Other previous roles include General Partner at McManimon, Scotland & Baumann, LLC., Global Infrastructure/Public Finance/Tax Associate at Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP., and Public Finance/Tax Associate at Wilentz. Goldman & Spitzer, P.A.

Throughout her 20+ year career, Lillian has received over a dozen awards and distinctions for her incredible work within her field. Some of these accolades include the 2017 Top Lawyers Under 40 Award from the Hispanic National Bar Association, the 2017 Social Justice Advocate Award from the Morris County Organization for Hispanic Affairs, the 2018 Legacy Award from the Association of Latin American Law Students, the 2021 Top 50 Women in Business Award and recognition as a Leader in Law, both from NJBiz. She is also a frequent public speaker, having shared her expertise at a wide variety of conferences, workshops, and events for major organizations such as Novogradac & Company LLP, the National Association of Bond Lawyers, New York Law School, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, among many others.

Lillian holds a B.A. in English from Drew University, a J.D. from the Rutgers School of Law, and an L.L.M. in Taxation from New York Law School. She has been an active member within many professional organizations, including Executive Women of New Jersey (Board of Trustees, Policy Chair), New Jersey Community Capital (Board of Directors, 2021), New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (Board of Trustees, 2010-2012, Endorsement Chair, 2021), the Don Pedro Development Corporation (Board of Trustees, 2012-2020), Neighborhood House Association (Board of Trustees, 2015-2017), and more. Lillian has also helped to organize several conferences and training to give back to her community, including the Young Latina Leadership Conference, Eleccion Latina, and the Youth About Business (YAB) Program.