Whether your institution is local, regional, or national, we have the necessary experience and practice depth to help you find practical, innovative legal solutions. The support we can provide includes establishing and governing endowment funds, project financing and bond work, advice on leadership matters and compensation, NCAA compliance issues, and representation of university faculty and institutes on patents, intellectual property, and technology transfer matters.
Our clients include private and public secondary schools, colleges and universities, other forms of higher education institutions, teaching hospitals, and educational funding agencies of all sizes.
Areas of Focus
- Advising boards of directors and key principals on leadership and compensation matters, including negotiating such contracts
- Advising on compliance issues with the NCAA and handling any issues that arise
- Assisting in accessing funding through federal sources
- Dealing with environmental issues in both litigation and cooperative venues
- Handling financial and/or corporate transactions and intellectual property matters for companies targeting the education industry
- Providing advice on the development and implementation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance-oriented initiatives and regulatory reinvention projects
- Providing counsel on the establishment, management, and governance of endowment funds
- Providing immigration services for faculty members, researchers, doctors, librarians, technicians, and recent graduates
Educational Products & Services
If your company makes or distributes educational materials, we can handle corporate and financial transactions (or a cross-section of the two), employment counseling, litigation, and intellectual property materials. In particular, our team of copyright attorneys has experience with material distributed via the Internet, satellite, and cable.
Executive Compensation & Employment
Compensating your leadership team is a hot button today, and we virtually write the book on the topic each year. In addition to researching and preparing compensation studies, we frequently counsel boards of trustees and college and university officers on such matters as contracts, executive compensation, performance evaluation, goal setting, current and deferred compensation, Intermediate Sanctions, Sarbanes-Oxley, and best practices for managing their institutions.
Financing & Transactions
If you have an important educational project, we will work with you to achieve funding every step of the way. Our knowledge of federal funding extends to both public and independent colleges and universities and involves vehicles that can be public, private, or a hybrid of both. Our work with clients in the education industry has led to representation before entities such as Congress, the Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation. We also helped create the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) and its programs in 1981, and have served as its advisor, bond counsel, and general counsel since.
Our attorneys can also counsel you on mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic business transactions. We have extensive experience in assisting universities and research institutions in all stages of negotiations through post closings.
Investment Management & Fund Formation
With the cost of education continuing to soar, educational institutions are facing a competitive landscape where students are looking for campuses that are well-equipped and sport the latest technologies and design advances. In order to fund these upgrades and enhancements, while also providing tuition assistance to students in need so they can afford the educational experience of their choice, schools, colleges, and universities are looking for income from all sources. Our team has been advising donors and beneficiaries on raising, investing, and managing endowment, scholarship, and investment funds for more than 30 years. We have advised funds of all sizes, comprised of many different asset types.
Graduate Medical Education
Our team has developed a unique practice in the area of Graduate Medical Education (GME). Our practice is national in scope, and our attorneys advise institutions facing accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which accredits graduate medical education programs in academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, and by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which accredits medical schools. We regularly counsel institutions and teaching programs throughout the country on compliance with ACGME and Residency Review Committee (RRC) requirements, and medical schools on compliance with LCME standards. We also work with clients on their periodic reviews, and represent them when necessary to rebut adverse evaluations, including handling ACGME and LCME administrative hearings. Our accreditation clients include many prestigious medical schools and academic medical centers as well as other teaching institutions across the United States.
Tech Transfer & Intellectual Property Enforcement
In addition to helping you protect and enforce your intellectual property rights, our attorneys can help you make the most of your IP assets. Our intellectual property and transactional attorneys work closely together in assisting universities and research institutions in maximizing the potential of their IP portfolios through joint ventures, strategic alliances, collaborations, and technology transfers.