Education Law

Education law is an area of practice that requires unique expertise. Plunkett Cooney is one of the only firms in Michigan with a team of attorneys dedicated to serving the legal needs of schools, universities and colleges.

The members of Plunkett Cooney's Education Law Practice Group focus their practice in the areas of complex litigation and special matters, including civil rights claims, environmental law, governmental immunity, election law, student discipline and rights, technology law, labor and employment issues, cyber law, construction law, administrative hearings (EEOC, MDCR, etc.), Title VII, Title IX and workers' compensation.

Our attorneys work closely with elected officials, administrators and in-house counsel to solve high-exposure and often sensitive legal matters on behalf of educational institutions. Action plans and budgets are established for each new matter to ensure proper client notification and coordination. And the firm's technology platform promotes teamwork by dramatically improving the ability of our attorneys to coordinate matters in a consistent and cost-effective manner across multiple offices, when necessary.

Our attorneys have considerable experience in the area of education law and are active in the education community. They present seminars and author publications addressing the legal areas of interest to those in the education field.

Representative matters

• Issued legal opinions to charter schools, community colleges and public school districts on the balance between students’ right to free speech and the institution’s need to maintain control of its environment
• Reviewed and developed procedures to replace a deceased trustee on the board of a community college
• Reviewed and developed procedures to hire a new community college chancellor
• Negotiated and coordinated employee buy outs in litigation/pre-litigation matters on behalf of charter schools, community colleges and public school districts
• Responded to and supervised EEOC/MDCR investigations on behalf of charter schools, community colleges and public school districts
• Drafted vendor contract and property leases for charter schools, community colleges and public school districts
• Prepared a charter contract and renewals of application for the contract for a charter school and served as liaison between the chartering authority and public academy

Case Studies

Team

Publications

Press Releases

Blog Posts