Capabilities
Education
K-12 Education
K-12 Education
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Lippes Mathias’ K-12 Education Team is focused on the complex and ever-shifting legal, regulatory, policy, and business needs of educational institutions.
Our attorneys regularly work with boards of education, superintendents and other school administrators and leaders to devise innovative and practical solutions to legal and operational challenges. Our attorneys advise educational institutions on their obligations under federal and state education laws, employment laws and regulatory obligations. Our team also regularly litigates on behalf of educational institutions before the New York State Commissioner of Education, in state and federal courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights, the Public Employment Relations Board and other administrative agencies.
Brendan Kelleher and Nathaniel Kuzma, team co-leaders of our K-12 Education Team, have extensive first-hand experience and insight into educational institutions. Aside from their work in private practice addressing issues facing educational institutions, each previously served as the general counsel to the Buffalo City School District. Drawing on these unique experiences, our team is able to view an educational institution’s challenges from both legal and practical perspectives and craft solutions that serve an institution’s short and long-term objectives.
Our team members are regularly called upon by educational institutions to conduct investigations of workplace allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and other alleged employee misconduct. Based upon our extensive experience, our team understands the heightened sensitivity with which such investigations must be conducted, as well as the unique challenges that must be navigated when questioning educational institutions’ employees and/or students as part of those investigations.
Our Team has the added benefit of having support and resources as part of a full-service law firm to meet the diverse needs of our educational institution clients.
Our team’s experience includes:
- Day-to-day consultation regarding operations and governance
- Employee discipline matters, including proceedings under NY Education Law §3020-a and NY Civil Service Law §75.
- Negotiation and drafting of employment contracts for superintendents, and other employees.
- New school development, replication and expansion.
- Student discipline matters, including serving as counsel to the school district and as a hearing officer for hearings and/or appeals.
- Defense of claims under Child Victims Act and Adult Survivors Act
- Virtual and online education
- School finance and M&A
- Parent and student civil rights
- Negotiation and drafting of vendor contracts in accordance with NY Education Law §2-D
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