Cox Smith advises public and private educational institutions, with special emphasis on private colleges, universities, and  grade and high schools in Texas. Our lawyers understand the business of education and typically work directly with senior administrators and their governing boards, assisting them with a wide range of operational and policy concerns. That includes serving as general counsel to advise them on a variety of business, governance, employment and dispute resolution issues.

Client Focus

• Private Colleges and universities
• Private grade and high schools

Services as Governance Counsel
Issues involving student welfare, student discipline and academic violations, and faculty rights are among the most sensitive governance concerns for primary and secondary educators, and Cox Smith has extensive experience advising private educational institutions on their rights and responsibilities in dealing with students and faculty. We advise administrators and boards and help them make the proper decisions concerning:

• Defending decisions to grant or withhold faculty tenure
• Reporting of child abuse when observed in minors
• Developing security procedures for school facilities and entire campuses
• Creating and enforcing consistent policies for student grading and disciplines
• Defending grade and discipline decisions when challenged by litigation
• Crafting guidelines for student and faculty use of social networking Internet sites
• Representing institutional interests when faculty members launch court challenges on issues of academic freedom
• Assisting with other personnel issues that involve faculty and staff employees.

Our education lawyers have a special focus in helping schools and school administrators develop and enforce student, parent and faculty codes of conduct. We ensure that a written code clearly reflects the school’s educational mission, and precisely defines student, parent and faculty conduct that is inconsistent with or violates the mission statement.

Services as General Counsel
When serving in a general counsel role for educational institutions, we not only advise on legal issues but also address the unique commercial concerns and disputes that our clients face. Our role is to help administrators and boards make sound, informed decisions regarding such issues as:

• Outsourcing of transportation, information technology, food and other services, including documentation of all contractual arrangements and performance standards.
• Developing appropriate standards for competitive bidding and requests for proposals, as well as resolving bid controversies and protests.
• Negotiating with developers, architects, construction managers, and general contractors on construction and renovation projects.
• Acquisition of real estate, and management of real estate bequests, in connection with facilities expansion.
• Ensuring compliance with all statutes and regulations governing such issues as public information, employment law, disabilities accommodation and conflicts of interest.

Other Services to Colleges and Universities
Tax-Exempt Finance. Cox Smith finance lawyers handle public and private finance and bond issuances for educational entities. We have the experience to handle the details of such transactions, including matters related to disclosure and arbitrage compliance. Our firm has also handled fixed and floating rate bond financings that enabled several universities to undertake construction projects on their campuses.

Technology Development. Our firm serves as legal and business counselors to major research universities on their technology development and venture business incubation efforts. For example, we advised on the first successful spinoff of a company started at a major state university’s Health Science Center.

Tax. We regularly advise colleges and universities on a broad range of tax and ERISA issues. These include tax qualification, benefit and pension plan compliance and administration, and fiduciary duty issues. For example, we represented a university in amending and restating its pension annuity plan.

Other Services to Schools and School Districts
Employee Benefits. Private schools and public school districts are among the wide range of clients that rely on Cox Smith for employee benefit guidance. Our lawyers advise these clients on the best ways to structure and administer their benefit and pension plans, particularly Section 403(b) pension plans. Although public education institution plans are not subject to the requirements of the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), their unique complexities in funding and compliance require our special guidance on state law requirements that apply to non-ERISA qualified plans. That includes both Section 457 and Section 409A nonqualified deferred compensation plans. And for private institution plans that are governed by ERISA we provide comprehensive guidance on all aspects of plan structure and fiduciary duty requirements.

In all welfare benefit plans that involve the handling of confidential employee health information, we make certain that data confidentiality and security conforms to all requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

An important part of our benefits advice involves working to ensure the tax-exempt status of private schools. We secure determination letters from taxing authorities confirming the tax exemption, and handle the annual reporting on Form 990 that is necessary to ensure its continuation.

Open Meetings. Cox Smith helps public school districts, among other municipalities and government agencies, comply with open meetings and public information laws and regulations. We counsel these clients on proper subject matter for closed sessions, and proper postings for meetings and subject matter descriptions of issues to be considered.