Education lawyers have the privilege of serving on the leadership team of organizations with a constitutional mandate to help children learn. If we serve with the level of integrity befitting such a meaningful challenge, then we will earn the trust of our clients and enjoy the fruits of a respected reputation. The initial unique feature of the firm’s membership is the fact that we have all served in various capacities in school settings that allow us to relate to our educational leadership clients in a way that few existing law firms can. Our members have served in education settings as teachers, administrators, board members and in-house counsel.
These experiences confirm a commitment to education and public service that assists in developing a trusting working relationship with our clientele and provides us with insight into the daily problems they face in preserving the educational environment and delivering a quality education to students. Our mission and role is to support the administrators we serve with integrity and help them create the ideal education environment. Serving with integrity, however, can be challenging. We must be mindful of who we are and who we are not. We are neither board members nor administrators. If we remember our clients look to us for our expertise as lawyers, then we will serve our clients with efficiency, diligence and integrity.
Finally, our expertise in the education arena is further confirmed by the fact that each member has taught master’s level education law and policy courses at Fordham University, Kean University, Caldwell College and Seton Hall University. This allows a national and historical understanding of legal issues unique to education and further allows us to influence hundreds of current educators in appropriately handling legal issues with an understanding of the rights of staff, parents and students. Our members have held leadership roles in the New Jersey Association of School Attorneys and currently serve as President, Immediate Past President and Regional Trustees of that prestigious organization. Each member of the firm has also trained other New Jersey school lawyers in a variety of legal topics. Our various roles have also allowed us to develop meaningful relationships with state and federal legislators and policy makers. We are frequently called up on to provide comment on forthcoming legislation and regulations. We use these opportunities to advocate for the interests of our education and public senator management clients.
