Education

Schools, universities and companies that support the education sector need smart, sophisticated legal counsel who are familiar with the ever-changing regulatory environment.  Jenner & Block is uniquely positioned to serve these clients, offering them creativity, deep regulatory and technical expertise, and extensive litigation, investigation, and crisis management experience.  Our lawyers operate at the nexus of compliance and litigation in the large-scale matters that pose significant risk to the legal, financial, and reputational standing of major institutions, as well as in the routine but difficult matters that universities and other affiliated institutions face every day. 

Given the scrutiny under which educational institutions operate, their legal challenges require sensitivities to many different concerns:  actual or threatened civil or criminal litigation, intense media pressure, congressional or Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigations, and overlapping inquiries by state and federal regulators, accreditors, and others.  Jenner & Block is exceptionally well-suited to counsel and defend institutions in these situations.  While we have extensive litigation experience – and have represented academic institutions at all levels of litigation, including in the US Supreme Court – our higher education practice has particular strengths dealing with the multi-faceted problems that arise outside of or in conjunction with litigation.  On issues ranging from sexual misconduct and student athletics to cybersecurity and online education, we have helped our clients manage their problems and advance their goals.

We bring a wide range of experience to these challenges:

• We have worked in senior positions across the government and understand the litigation, investigative, and internal and external communication dimensions of a problem.
• We have worked inside universities and understand the unique governance structures in which institutional decisions are made.
• We also have extensive investigative, compliance and monitorship experience in the education sector, giving us a unique perspective on preventing and solving problems.
• Our Education team brings deep experience with the legal issues that present the most serious challenges to institutional interests and a broad perspective on how those interests can be best served.