Overview
Our lawyers focus on safeguarding K-12 and higher education institutions so they can focus on creating and preserving a culture of learning.
Burr & Forman’s team has significant experience advising K-12 schools on matters including public finance, Title IX compliance and investigations, school board policies, student discipline, special education, and disability accommodation.
In the higher education environment, we advise colleges and universities on employee relations, academic intellectual property and tech transfer, financing for capital projects, and immigration topics. Burr & Forman also has a robust sports law team advising collegiate in-house legal departments and athletic departments about name, image, and likeness (NIL) laws (including potential federal laws and various state laws) and NCAA rules and guidance involving the NCAA’s member institutions, NIL collectives, and student-athletes.
Our lawyers also regularly represent educational institutions in internal investigations, government investigations, and litigation involving equal employment opportunity policies, harassment and retaliation claims, wage and hour disputes, and disciplinary actions.
Representative Experience
- Served as co-counsel on significant South Carolina Supreme Court opinion in favor of a school district client upholding a challenge to a multi-million dollar bond issuance.
- Secured over $10 million in state funding over two legislative sessions to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine for the purpose of improving health in the rural parts of South Carolina through the provision of medical services as well as the recruitment and training of physicians.
- Represented a university in the first-ever jury trial resulting from a student-disciplinary process. The plaintiff alleged gender discrimination under Title IX as a result of the disciplinary process. After a five-day trial before the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, a jury verdict was handed down in favor of the university.
- Represented city board of education in a federal desegregation lawsuit where the client requested court approval of a plan to remove four schools from the county board of education's oversight and put those schools under the city BOE's oversight. This primarily involved desegregation and other constitutional laws.
- Defending private K-12 school in South Florida in non-compete litigation brought by a former school employee.
- Assisted school district with multiple cases related to immigration filings for teachers in critical shortage areas, including special education and foreign language. Because the school districts have written affiliation agreements with higher education institutions that further educational interests, the school districts are not subject to the H-1B cap and can file H-1B petitions throughout the academic year.
- Represented a leading accredited private school, negotiating the removal of our client from a burdensome and one-sided contract with an outside vendor, which handled our client’s ACT and SAT test prep program. As a result, our client is now free to develop its own test prep curriculum.
- Represented a leading developer, manufacturer, distributor, and multi-channel retailer of educational products and a portfolio company of a private equity firm in the membership interest purchase of a company providing online child care training and certificates, child care registry development, and administrative solutions for the early care and education industry.
- Represented a leading provider of educational tools and services for early childhood and elementary school teachers and parents. Our team assisted the client in all aspects of the acquisition of a leading provider of early childhood education services for public schools, Head Start programs, and early childcare centers based in Texas.
- Represented a non-profit corporation that has issued more than $3 billion to assist school districts and other political subdivisions in the acquisition, operation, sale, or leasing of property, financing capital improvements, and issuing tax anticipation notes.
- Partner with multiple institutions of higher education across the country to develop employment-based immigration strategies for foreign national faculty and staff to obtain work authorization and transition to permanent residency through various avenues, including EB-2 PERM Special Handling, EB-2 National Interest Waivers, and EB-1 Outstanding Professor or Researchers.
- Represented a local school district in fighting several challenges to water quality permits needed for the expansion and renovation of one of its high school facilities.
- Obtained dismissal of a tenured teacher for the public board of education. The decision was affirmed by the trial court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
- Represent several South Carolina educational institutions with prosecuting, maintaining, and protecting their trademark and patent portfolios
