Bond enjoys a special relationship as outside general counsel for a significant number of colleges and universities, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities. In that capacity, we regularly provide legal and counseling services, not only in the general areas of law practice outlined below, but also in the specific area of higher education law related to faculty and student constituencies. We have a long record of active participation in the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and two of our firm's attorneys have served as President of the Association.
Our academic affairs work includes the development and review of academic policies and faculty handbooks; review of promotion, tenure and nonrenewal cases; the termination of academic programs; the development of compliance programs to address federal regulatory demands; and representation of institutions in accreditation appeals and hearings.
Bond enjoys a special relationship as outside general counsel for a significant number of colleges and universities, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities. In that capacity, we regularly provide legal and counseling services, not only in the general areas of law practice outlined below, but also in the specific area of higher education law related to faculty and student constituencies. We have a long record of active participation in the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and two of our firm's attorneys have served as President of the Association.
Our academic affairs work includes the development and review of academic policies and faculty handbooks; review of promotion, tenure and nonrenewal cases; the termination of academic programs; the development of compliance programs to address federal regulatory demands; and representation of institutions in accreditation appeals and hearings.
Our general business projects range from contract drafting, review and negotiation to unrelated business income tax issues, and from not-for-profit corporation law matters to insurance and risk management concerns. We provide collection services for our higher education clients, have obtained charter amendments for them and have helped to define the terms for cooperative activities with off-campus entities.
The following are examples of some of our work in this area:
- Handled all legal work related to the relocation of a college from Long Island to Upstate New York, including the successful defense of an action to enjoin relocation.
- Developed a comprehensive transition plan for achieving independent charter status for Utica College of Syracuse University.
- Secured IRS approval that funds from industrial corporations under research contracts were for "research" and not unrelated business income.
- Provided legal services involved in securing partial state funding for, and ultimate construction of, a 50,000 seat domed athletic facility.
- Successfully defended "educational malpractice" class action claim brought in response to institution's collection suit.
- Represented nine universities in formation of syndication for telecast of Division I football games throughout Northeastern United States.
- Involved in organizational structuring; tax, business, and financial planning; and new building construction and financing of successful Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Technology Park.
- Involved in numerous co-generation projects, including a $120,000,000 facility, constructed at developer's cost, furnishing steam for adjacent colleges and hospitals.
- Reorganized separate medical college and hospital corporations into a major academic medical center under direction and control of an umbrella entity.
- Obtained a landmark unrelated business income tax ruling requiring IRS to allocate institution's expenses of facility or property leased to others in proportion to days of actual total use, rather than 365 days in year.
In the student affairs arena, we have extensive experience with student conduct codes and disciplinary cases, mass student demonstrations, search and seizure issues, student organizations (including fraternities and sororities), racial and sexual harassment policies, drug testing programs, and the disclosure and release of student records.
Examples of past cases include:
- Summary judgment for institution in action by Nigerian student dismissed on academic grounds on eve of graduation. Early high-water mark of "academic abstention" doctrine.
- Summary judgment for university following suit by plaintiff for libel by student editors of campus newspaper. Early and much-noted case insulating private institutions from student libels.
- Successful resolution of numerous cases with the Office for Civil Rights involving claimed discrimination.
- Successful court defense of numerous student disciplinary proceedings.
- Development of a reasonable suspicion-based student athlete drug testing program to meet all Constitutional standards for public institutions.
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