Educational Institutions

Vedder enjoys an outstanding reputation as a leading employment law firm, with substantial experience representing K-12 charter schools and systems, and colleges and universities of all sizes in a wide range of employment and related matters involving faculty, students and employees.

We can assist with:

• Employment law counseling and litigation at all levels of the institution, including discrimination law, harassment, wage/hour compliance, wrongful discharge, employee relations, worker classification, investigations, risk management, workforce reductions, and litigation avoidance
• Labor relations matters, including union representation issues and proceedings, collective bargaining agreement negotiation and administration, picketing, work stoppage and/or strike planning and response, and grievance and arbitration hearings
• Faculty relations, including employment agreements, tenure issues, disciplinary issues and termination
• Student relations, including admissions, disciplinary challenges, grading disputes, harassment, expulsions, disability accommodations, Title IX compliance and privacy issues under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)
• Policy development and implementation, including codes of conduct, hearing procedures, and alcohol and drug policies
• Security, threat assessment and crisis management
• Human resources policy development and administration

Vedder maintains one of the nation's leading practices in executive compensation and employee benefits. Our team has deep experience, state-of-the-art knowledge and a solutions-based approach toward compensation and benefits challenges. We provide practical solutions for competitive compensation and benefits arrangements while helping you navigate the complex legal and regulatory concerns in these areas.

Whatever your challenge, we build solutions that satisfy the needs of your institution, including:

• Employee benefits plan design and administration
• Affordable Care Act compliance
• Retiree medical plan design and administration
• Retirement plan design and administration, including defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans and nonqualified deferred compensation and excess benefit plans
• Executive compensation program design and administration
• Severance and exit incentive program design and administration
• Compensation and benefits for adjunct professors

Our Vedder team has the experience to help clients comply with the various laws and standards governing the collection, use, sharing and protection of personal data, including student information. We provide a full spectrum of services - from data breach response, internal investigations and litigation to policy development and industry-specific compliance and regulatory counseling. Our interdisciplinary approach focuses on all aspects of information management. We have also assembled a rapid-response capability to assist our clients in responding to the legal, operational and reputational risks associated with a data breach.

Vedder attorneys handle a variety of privacy- and security-related matters for our clients, including:

• Litigating data privacy claims of all kinds, including, but not necessarily limited to, class actions related to the use or misuse of personal information, claims arising from online collection and use of data, class actions related to website tracking and cookies, claims arising from data security incidents, and right of publicity claims
• Formulating and implementing data privacy policies and procedures, including data collection, security, sharing and processing
• Developing data security breach plans, including templates, workflows and checklists
• Investigating and responding to data security incidents
• Conducting data privacy and security risk management assessments
• Providing privacy and data security counseling and training

Almost all educational institutions have business immigration needs. We provide counsel with regard to all immigration matters—from complying with various immigration laws to establishing processes and policies that can help manage exposure to civil and criminal enforcement.

Our experienced attorneys assist in obtaining temporary or permanent immigration status for professors, administrators, teachers, instructors and employees, as well as with other immigration-related matters.

Our comprehensive institutional immigration legal services include assistance with:

• Nonimmigrant visas, including H-1Bs and J-1s for professors, physicians and other skilled staff
• Immigrant petitions, including PERMs, special handling, Schedule A, and EB-1s (outstanding researchers and those with extraordinary ability)
• I-9 and E-Verify compliance through internal audits and liaison with applicable government agencies

Vedder has been at the leading edge in the constantly evolving field of information technology and ecommerce, representing both providers and users of information technology, and offering a valuable network of technology and industry partners with unprecedented experience in these areas.

Our IT group is dedicated to helping clients to develop customized, yet comprehensive, solutions to their legal needs in the IT area, minimizing risks and costs, increasing efficient use of available IT solutions and, where necessary, maintaining compliance with all applicable governmental regulations and statutes, as well as attaining industry best practices. Members of our group have also represented clients in disputes in IT-related matters, such as failed implementations, trade secret cases and nonperforming systems.

Our attorneys regularly handle a variety of agreements and matters for our clients, including:

• Software development licensing, implementation/integration and maintenance
• Hosting agreements (including all aspects of cloud computing)
• Outsourcing (including ASP, BPO and APO)
• Social media and mobile connectivity (and BYOD)
• Business continuity/disaster recovery
• Records management and eDiscovery solutions

Intellectual property protection is of vital importance for educational institutions of all types. With a full-service patent, copyright, trademark and technology law practice, Vedder has the experience and capabilities to help you protect and defend your institution’s intellectual property rights, most notably relating to biotech, chemical and electrical IP. We represent institutions in judicial and administrative proceedings and serve as a valued member of their global intellectual property teams.

Our team will provide litigation support as well as proactive guidance for protecting valuable intellectual property, including:

• Preparation of patent applications and strategy
• Technology valuation and transfers
• Creation and operation of spin-off companies to protect and profit from intellectual property
• Litigation services