Educational Institutions

Title IX Investigations and Litigation

• Conducted a highly confidential internal investigation involving allegations of sexual impropriety by a former college president.
• Performed multiple Title IX investigations arising out of the school of medicine in a large university.
• Conducted an independent investigation of potential Title IX and human resources policy violations involving a prominent university’s police department, working closely with the institution’s general counsel and HR officials.

Antitrust and Competition

• Investigated price-fixing and other collusive agreements with other competing colleges and universities.
• Addressed no-poach, wage fixing and noncompete agreements and other proprietary information-sharing directly with competitors or through third parties.
• Advised clients on admissions, transfer and tenure policies.

Artificial Intelligence

• Assisted university client in development of guidelines for student use of generative AI software.
• Assisted universities and technology companies in collaborations around data usage and licensing for machine learning research and product development.
• Advised client on transparency requirements regarding use of generative AI software to create classroom and other learning materials.

Digital Assets and Data Management

• Helped educational institutions respond to more than 750 data security incidents (including more than 100 incidents in 2024), including some of the most highly publicized incidents.
• Defended and counseled clients through investigations by state attorneys general and the Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, Department of Insurance, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Represent educational institutions in litigation related to cybersecurity breaches and other privacy issues.
• Perform cybersecurity risk assessments, develop incident response plans and privacy policies and lead tabletop exercises to practice the execution of cyber incident response plans.

Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation

• Provide comprehensive employee benefits plan design and operations, including retirement plans and health and welfare benefit plans, as well as executive compensation advice to educational institutions across the country, including both state and private colleges and universities.
• Represented a private university in two IRS audits and a Department of Labor audit of a 403(b) retirement plan.
• Advise educational institutions on HIPAA compliance regarding the group health plans that they provide to employees.
• Advising a Midwest research university on multiple benefits issues, including negotiation of the employment agreement extension for the president of the university and restating of all the university’s retirement, health and welfare and executive compensation plans and programs.

Global Affairs – Export Controls

• Represented a large public university in a U.S. Department of State investigation alleging that a then-professor and the university violated export controls and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations while conducting research for a foreign defense agency, resulting in a successful resolution with no penalty imposed on the university
• Advised a prominent state university on sponsorship for a facility security clearance, including preparation of numerous submissions to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency and briefing of the university’s senior executives.
• Provided export control assistance to a university laboratory that was collaborating with a foreign government to design and construct a probe for a spacecraft intended to launch to Mars, including assistance in obtaining U.S. government export approvals.

Global Affairs – Immigration

• Represented universities with H-1B and O-1 visa petitions on behalf of professors, IT staff and other professionals.
• Advised and developed policies for universities to manage compliance issues regarding on-campus work for F-1 students.
• Advised employers on issues associated with hiring F-1 students on Optional Practical Training and STEM OPT EAD authorizations.

Healthcare – Academic Medical Centers

• Advised on a major integration of AMC faculty practice plans, including the transition of 450 physicians and more than 20 separate entities.
• Advised on dispute between university school of medicine and large health system involving interpretation of flow of funds contract provisions and termination-renewal provisions.
• Advised major health system in restructuring its academic affiliation with major university school of medicine and its nonprofit faculty practice plan.

Intellectual Property

• Handle patent drafting, prosecution and portfolio management across a full range of technical fields.
• Advise on copyright and digital rights matters.
• Assisted university clients with music licensing deals for social media and other promotional uses.
• Advise clients on transferring technology to new ventures and to corporate partners.
• Supporting clients as they coordinate with corporate partners and spin-offs and protect and commercialize IP in diverse fields such as biotechnology, bioinformatics, chemicals, nanotechnology, medical devices, materials science, mechanical and electrical engineering, optics and computer science.

Labor and Employment

• Advise clients on collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations, union-organizing drives and unfair labor practice cases.
• Defend clients in large discrimination and wage and hour class and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state laws and single-plaintiff lawsuits.
• Offer counsel on hiring and onboarding, including background checks, drug testing, work visas and other immigration issues, and employee classification.
• Provide guidance on performance management, discipline, terminations and reductions in force, including Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices.

Real Estate

• Represented one of the nation’s largest student housing developers in the real estate aspects of the acquisition, assemblage and financing of three parcels in midtown Atlanta. This included a construction loan for the development of a 28-story, 425,000-square-foot mixed-use facility composed of approximately 281 student housing units and more than 7,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
• Served as lead counsel for a major student housing developer in a student housing anchored mixed-use project. Advised the client on the closing of a construction loan of more than $101 million for the development of the student housing project, which included retail space and a parking facility, and a simultaneous construction loan of more than $13 million for the development of a branded hotel on an adjacent parcel. The project was already under construction prior to the closing of the loans, necessitating the resolution of multiple complex contractor lien-related issues.
• Represented one of the largest national student housing developers in a project involving more than 30 student housing and mixed-use projects that encompassed approximately 9,000 student housing units (25,000 beds) near college/university campuses across the U.S. BakerHostetler prepared and negotiated purchase and sale agreements, use rights and restrictions, owner-contractor agreements, owner-architect agreements, construction agreements and documents, design-build agreements, and various other construction, development and/or operational agreements.

Sports

• Assist universities and businesses that want to engage student-athletes in name, image and likeness activities.
• Negotiated one of the first NIL agreements with a student athlete in the SEC and a major local brand in College Station, Texas.
• Serve as guest speakers to students and athletes about the ever-changing environment of NIL and the NCAA.
• Contributed as part of the team asked to create a sports law program at a top-level law school.
• Develop agreement structures and address an array of other issues that affect amateur athletes, including NCAA men’s basketball.
• Counseled the University of Colorado Boulder on the construction and expansion of its sports and entertainment venue.

Tax

• Represent universities’ interests in estate settlements and significant donor gift matters.

Transactions

• Represented a Florida-based private college in financing transactions over the course of several decades.
• Represented an Ohio-based private university in its acquisition of another university with a substantial campus and real estate.
• Served as project team lead on a major, multidisciplinary integration of academic medical center faculty practice plans, including the transition of 450 physicians and more than 20 separate entities, involving management of due diligence, governance, employment, organizational, tax-exempt status and healthcare regulatory issues.
• Represented technology platform provider in dozens of distance learning technology deals with top universities over a 10-year period.