Our Education Law Group provides comprehensive representation and legal advice to educational institutions throughout California, including public school districts, community college districts, private/independent schools, private vocational schools, private colleges, as well as public and private universities. In serving all of our school and college clients, we are committed to helping them fulfill their respective missions by providing strong advocacy as well as sound, practical, and effective legal advice.
We represent a wide variety of educational institutions, ranging from large urban unified school districts to smaller suburban elementary districts, from single-college community college districts to multi-college districts, as well as many other types of schools and colleges, including the University of California. We are sensitive to the unique legal issues facing each of our clients, and we are experienced in navigating the individual cultures of each institution and its various constituents: parents, community, educators, administrators, staff, parents, board members, and most importantly, students. We adopt our representation and advocacy to the diverse culture and unique needs of each of our clients.
Our areas of expertise include:
- personnel, including employee discipline, layoffs, tenure, seniority, employee leave rights, and dealing with discrimination, disability, and reasonable accommodation issues;
- labor relations, including negotiations, grievances, and arbitrations;
- governance, including participation at Board meetings, policies and procedures, shared governance, and Brown Act, Bagley-Keene Act, and Public Records Act compliance;
- litigation, in courts and administrative agencies. We have a proven track record advocating for the rights of our clients in state and federal court, as well before various administrative agencies;
- contract review, involving a variety of goods and services;
- real property transactions and facilities, including purchase, lease, construction, maintenance, land use, eminent domain, zoning, environmental and school site issues;
- public bidding, including compliance with the Public Contract Code and other procurement issues;
- student affairs, including student discipline, student records, special education, and student services;
- school licensure and accreditation, including with BPPE, WASC and ACCJC;
- ethics and conflicts of interest; and
- charter school oversight, including advising school districts and county offices/boards of education regarding charter petition review, oversight, revocation, facilities, litigation, and legislation. We do not represent charter schools.
We are thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the Education Code and accompanying regulations, including Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, as well as other state and federal laws impacting schools and colleges in both the public and private sectors.
Our education law specialists and litigators represent our school and college clients not only in state and federal court, but also before various administrative agencies, including the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (“BPPE”), the Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”), the Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”), and the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, as well as before personnel commissions and arbitrators.
We are leaders in our respective fields of expertise, partnering with and presenting frequently at statewide educational conferences offered by organizations such as the Association of California School Administrators, the California School Boards Association, and the Community College League of California. We also provide regular trainings for our clients on various issues, including personnel, labor and collective bargaining, and compliance with the Brown Act, Public Records Act, and ethics. We author articles in publications with statewide distribution, and, on an annual basis, our firm publishes Legal Trends, the widely-used treatise on California employment law in the public sector.
