Higher Education

NOT JUST LAWYERS, HIGHER ED LAWYERS

Attorneys in Saul Ewing's Higher Education Practice Group provide trusted "one-stop" legal services shopping for institutions of higher education. We value the opportunity to handle a wide range of legal matters for large public and private universities, small independent colleges and universities, community colleges, and a myriad of institutions affiliated with higher education.

Recognizing that the legal challenges facing colleges and universities can touch almost any corner of the law, our Higher Education Practice Group is comprised of lawyers from across the Firm and multiple legal disciplines. Our members include attorneys from Saul Ewing’s Litigation, Business, Real Estate, Personal Wealth, Estates and Trusts, and Public Finance departments, as well as the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology, Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits, Charitable Giving, Construction, Corporate Governance, and Tax practice groups. While attorneys in our Higher Education practice have experience addressing a wide range of legal needs across numerous industries, they understand and appreciate the unique nature of issues faced by postsecondary institutions. In fact, one member of the practice group served for several years as General Counsel to a major university, giving us the benefit of a vantage point rarely achieved by outside counsel. 

RECOGNIZING THE NEEDS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

It is one thing to know the law, but it is quite another to understand how that law intersects with life on a college or university campus. Our attorneys bring that practical understanding to the table when representing institutions. We are experienced in the diverse legal issues facing the Higher Education community, including those relating to:

• Tenure challenges
• Discrimination claims
• Corporate governance and Sarbanes-Oxley
• Whistleblowers on campus
• Real estate development and campus expansion, including construction and bond work
• Records retention policies and schedules
• Intellectual property and technology transfer
• Research and clinical trial protocols
• Research Misconduct claims
• Security and premises liability challenges of an open, active campus
• Background checks (for students, staff, and others on campus)
• Access and affordability
• Federal Student Aid program reviews, audits and appeals
• State appropriations for higher education, including community colleges
• Student loan debt issues
• Student privacy issues
• Challenges to student conduct sanctions
• Student deaths
• Student sexual assaults and related Title IX issues
• Alcohol policies and consumption on campus
• First Amendment freedoms of students and student groups
• Endowment challenges
• Virtual campuses (sanctioned and not)
• The impact of technology on education and tuition

REPRESENTATIVE EDUCATION LAW MATTERS

In recent years, our Higher Education team has provided sophisticated legal services to numerous institutions of higher education, ranging from policy drafting and review to student assault response guidance, from major liability defense work to tenure disputes, from serving as financing/bond counsel to facilitating real estate development, from defending against claims of discrimination to establishing Tech Transfer offices. Please click on the headings below for more specific information about how we have served colleges and universities.

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

MAJOR PREMISES LIABILITY DEFENSE

OTHER LITIGATION DEFENSE

FINANCING

REAL ESTATE

CORPORATE/PROPRIETARY

FACULTY/CREDENTIALING

ACTIVE IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY

Members of the Higher Education Practice Group are connected with the leaders of numerous colleges and universities through their service on Boards of Directors, Boards of Trustees and Alumni Clubs. Attorneys in the Higher Education group hold leadership positions with the following institutions and organizations affiliated with Higher Education:

• Vice Chairman, Board of Regents for the University System of Maryland
• Member, National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA)
• Vice Chair, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Board of Trustees
• Trustee, Arcadia University
• Trustee, DeSales University
• Trustee, Manor College
• Trustee, Stevenson University
• Trustee, Colgate University
• President, University of Delaware Philadelphia Area Alumni Club
• Director, University of Delaware Alumni Association Board of Directors
• Board member, Advisory Council to the J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Charitable Trusts
• Member, the New Jersey Planned Giving Council
• Former Member, Board of Visitors, University of Maryland School of Law
• Vice President, University of Pennsylvania's Alumni, Class of 1970
• Vice Chair, Maryland Higher Education Labor Relations Board
• Director, Board of Directors, University System of Maryland Foundation
• Member, Board of Visitors, University of Maryland School of Law
• Member, Schools Committee, Harvard Clubs of Philadelphia and Princeton

In addition, our attorneys have been on the faculty or adjunct professors for the following universities and law schools:

• University of Baltimore School of Law
• St. Joseph’s University
• Rutgers University School of Law
• Rutgers University Graduate School of Business
• Kean University Masters of Public Administration Program
• Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law
• St. John's University School of Law Masters Program in Bankruptcy
• University of Maryland School of Law
• University of Delaware

With attorneys hailing from diverse professional backgrounds and covering a broad spectrum of legal experience, Saul Ewing's Higher Education Practice Group is well-suited to assist clients with the wide-ranging issues unique – in scope and substance – to institutions of higher education.