Education

Barnes & Thornburg serves as counsel to educational institutions of all sizes. Our attorneys advise on employment issues such as due process, tenure, constitutional and civil rights, terminations, discipline, evaluations, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, leave, accommodations, benefits and compensation, teacher and administrator training, and collective bargaining and grievance.

Our attorneys serve as trusted advisers to countless college and university presidents and senior administrators. We understand the enormous scrutiny under which educational organizations must operate as they deal with matters that can become highly publicized and with potentially devastating effects upon public and private supporters.

As schools are the bedrock of their communities, our team helps keep them operationally and fiscally sound. We work with clients to prepare and file applications for charter schools and advise on compliance matters involving state and local regulators, nonprofit status and incorporation documents. We advise on authorizer requirements, as well as work with authorizers to develop processes related to charter schools. We assist in the creation and development of partnerships that serve the needs of students at all levels, and have negotiated school innovation network agreements.

We also guide clients through matters involving school board structure and policies, curriculum development and compliance, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Indiana’s Article 7. In addition, we support successful school operations by providing legal counsel pertaining to financing, real estate, construction, leasing, software licenses, equipment purchase, intellectual property ownership and commercialization, dispute resolution and litigation, joint efforts with the local community, and public affairs, government relations and lobbying.

School systems across the country call on our skilled attorneys to guide them through the more sensitive challenges educational facilities face, such as abuse, bullying, corporal punishment, special education, safety, expulsion, suspension, athletics, drug testing, education records and constitutional and civil rights.