Harris Beach Murtha represents higher education institutions throughout New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and the rest of the nation on a variety of labor and employment issues. Our attorneys have deep knowledge and experience on many of the employment issues colleges and universities regularly encounter.

We draft policies and procedures concerning disability and civil rights, and train college and university staff on responsibilities in these areas. Our attorneys are intimately involved with the provision of appropriate accommodations for faculty and staff with disabilities under federal and state law. We also monitor our clients’ compliance with disability and anti-discrimination laws.
We have experience representing college and university clients in administrative actions and appeals before the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice and various state agencies, and in litigation before federal and state courts.

Our attorneys are also experienced in defending employers against employment-related matters such as employment discrimination, wage/hour issues, wrongful discharge matters and constitutional issues. We regularly advise institutions on challenges and conflicts related to faculty tenure, as well as promotion and termination of faculty and staff. We also provide preventative counseling, training and policy development services to proactively foster our college and university clients’ compliance with governmental regulations.

Additionally, Harris Beach Murtha assists higher education institution clients in all phases of the employment cycle, from hiring through termination. An employer’s improper handling of hiring, leave and termination matters may lead to costly penalties or litigation. Our services include employment policy preparation and review, as well as ongoing guidance on complying with complex and ever-evolving labor laws. We advise clients on a host of employee leave laws and regulations, including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), state workers’ compensation laws, military leave laws and the interplay between these various statutes.

Harris Beach Murtha provides legal counsel on all aspects of master planning and campus expansion, including bond financing, construction and surety, environmental compliance, litigation and sustainability.

Our public finance attorneys serve as issuer’s counsel, borrower’s counsel, bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in connection with a wide variety of public and private tax-exempt financings involving general obligation bonds and revenue bonds to finance projects such as student housing, classrooms, athletic facilities and research centers. We are also involved with fixed and variable rate bonds, credit and liquidity enhanced bonds and bond refundings. Harris Beach Murtha is listed as recognized bond counsel in the “Municipal Bond Attorneys” section of The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Marketplace.

Our construction and surety attorneys draft and negotiate complex commercial contracts including construction, vendor, leasing and joint venture agreements. We support clients on matters of commercial contract law and handle matters of construction contracting, from the preparation and negotiation of documents through implementation.

We also have experience dealing with public bidding issues, including lowest responsible bidder determinations, project labor agreements and compliance with bid documents. Our services related to bid document compliance include prequalification of bidders, prevailing wage rate and Wicks Law issues, accepting and awarding bids, illegal bids and contracts, bid withdrawal, exceptions to bidding rules, challenges to bid awards and obtaining relief from bid mistakes.

After construction completion, Harris Beach Murtha attorneys counsel higher educational institutions on construction-related matters, including breach of contracts, disputes regarding payment and the performance of work, filing liens on projects and claims against bonding companies. We also handle dispute resolution in construction and surety matters through litigation, arbitration and mediation.

For projects requiring environmental review, our attorneys counsel higher educational institutions on implementation of local, state and federal laws. We also help with sustainable energy-related economic development incentives. Most notably for higher education institutions, we assist with energy efficiency/renewables programs that provide substantial improvements on college and university campuses related to new construction, renovations or equipment upgrades.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys leverage their legal skills and technical backgrounds to provide clients a complete range of intellectual property (IP) and technology commercialization services, from acquisition and management through enforcement and litigation.

We handle all aspects of patent, copyright and trademark protection both in the United States and worldwide for a variety of education institutions. Our attorneys have experience helping clients ensure their ideas and inventions are protected under U.S. and international laws.

We also advise on establishing patent, work-for-hire and non-competition agreements with employees responsible for research and development, and regularly handle licensing agreements for higher education institutions.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys seek to maximize budgets by providing guidance on patentability and the range of claim strategies used to turn those assets into a significant revenue stream. We assist universities and colleges in maximizing their IP assets through technology transfer opportunities, licensing and commercialization.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys are acutely aware of educational institutions’ sensitivity to the vulnerability of their computer systems from outside the institution, and from individuals with access to those systems. Protection of data is crucial.

Our attorneys and information technology professionals provide guidance on compliance with privacy laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

We also help education institutions with Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act compliance. While this law is directly applicable to financial institutions, it must also be considered by colleges and universities as they take steps to ensure the security of their students’ financial information.

Damage to the reputation of a college or university can adversely affect student recruitment, alumni donations and even federal funding. Our attorneys advise public and private entities on best practices in corporate governance and counsel boards and committees on their duties and responsibilities, including their fiduciary obligations under applicable state law. We help institutions decrease liability and minimize potential reputational risks through insurance and risk management techniques, including voluntary internal compliance audits.

Our experience includes board and committee composition and practices, special committee issues, conflicts of interest and codes of conduct. We help clients review policies and procedures to maintain compliance with all applicable laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. We also have experience advising clients on compliance with federal tax return reporting regulations, internal bylaws and state policies and initiatives.

Adherence to Title IX guidelines is not only for colleges and universities to avoid monetary and other penalties, but to protect their brand image, donor contributions and faculty and student recruitment. For students, an accusation and violation could lead to suspension, expulsion, a permanent mark on their official transcripts and severe obstacles to admission to other higher learning institutions, as well as potential criminal prosecution.

Our attorneys counsel clients on ways to establish and follow policies and procedures for meeting Title IX compliance; establish standards and protocols for investigating and handling claims; and in cases of alleged violations, ensure the proper policies and procedures are followed.

Among our services are developing and implementing a code of conduct; creating and assessing procedures and protocols; training staff, faculty and students; conducting fair and balanced investigations; representing students facing suspension or expulsion hearings; representing institutions in litigation and negotiating agreements to avoid litigation; and engaging our communications professionals, as needed, to assist with media inquiries.

Our attorneys advise colleges and universities on compliance with the growing number of increasingly complex rules and regulations governing collegiate sports.

We handle a broad range of NCAA compliance and student-athlete eligibility issues and have assisted NCAA member schools in all three divisions with various membership issues, including the NCAA Division I Institutional Performance Program (formerly known as Athletic Certification), an investigation of NCAA rule infractions and corrective measures, and the creation and implementation of NCAA Rules Compliance programs, including Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies.

NCAA, state and federal laws and guidelines continue to evolve relating to the right of student athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness. We provide comprehensive legal and compliance education and resources for administrators, coaches and student athletes to guide them in navigating the ever-changing landscape of NIL. Our lawyers have backgrounds in transactional work, intellectual property law, litigation and, most importantly, an appreciation for the nuances of NIL laws, rules and regulations. We advise on eligibility requirements, tax implications, international student concerns, collective licensing agreements and policy drafting.

When a collegiate sports client is alerted of a possible NCAA rules infraction, our attorneys conduct a thorough investigation to determine the pertinent facts and engage the NCAA to resolve the matter.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys offer a range of representation on federal, state and local tax law. Our comprehensive tax law services for not-for-profit higher education institutions include securing and maintaining tax-exempt status; providing counsel on real property tax exemptions; assisting with unrelated trade or business income tax; helping with intermediate sanction penalties and other excise taxes; aiding on private increment and excess benefit prohibitions; structuring activities that produce both exempt and taxable income; and handling the dissolution or termination of exempt entities.

We also represent colleges, independent schools, investment banks and commercial banks in tax-exempt commercial financings.

To remain competitive in today’s global workplace, educational institutions and university systems must attract and retain top talent from around the world. While U.S. employers have the opportunity to select the best workers from a pool that extends beyond the domestic workforce, hiring a foreign worker presents many unique legal challenges. Our immigration lawyers focus on strategies – including immigrant visas for permanent U.S. resident status and temporary visas for foreign nationals – to ensure colleges and universities can hire, transfer and retain the brightest and best non-U.S. talent.

Our work for large university systems, university-affiliated hospitals and small private colleges and universities around the country includes nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, as well as complex J-1 waiver issues and immigration compliance issues. We advise on several options for faculty and staff, including nonimmigrant visa petitions (H-1B, O-1, etc.) and lawful permanent residence PERM (outstanding professor or researcher, alien of extraordinary ability, special handling). We also help clients comply with electronic employment verification rules and Form I-9 compliance and auditing to ease their burden of examining documents to prove employee identity and employment authorization.

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys assist institutions in reviewing and organizing their immigration function for maximum efficiency and best practices, including review and establishment of written policies for immigration procedures. When appropriate, we also offer information and seminars to foreign employees regarding maintenance of status and immigration options.

We assist higher educational institutions with a variety of student-related immigration law issues. This includes providing guidance on F-1 visas, which permit international students to attend U.S. colleges and universities on a full-time basis.

We also counsel on Optional Practical Training (OPT), which authorizes F-1 undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students to work in the United States. Additionally, we counsel higher educational institutions on J-1 visas for study or work visitor exchange programs, as well as Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) compliance related to student enrollment and change in status reporting requirements.

Our attorneys have experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements between our clients and public sector unions. We advise clients regarding the administration and interpretation of collective bargaining agreements, represent employers in arbitration hearings, and appear on behalf of employers at all levels of the court system, as well as before the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

We assist schools with the design and implementation of Section 403(b) retirement programs and deferred compensation programs, as well as agreements for key executives, including compliance with IRC Sections 409A and 457(f).

Harris Beach Murtha attorneys assist colleges and universities with advice and defense of claims arising out of student life matters, including drafting and revising policies for campus judicial procedures, human rights, accommodations for students with disabilities, residential life issues, fraternities and sororities, student clubs, campus safety and security, grievances, sexual harassment, alcohol use and computer use. We also draft and revise student handbooks and manuals in accordance with the objectives and mission of our higher education institution clients.

Our attorneys review relationship agreements with foreign institutions and provide guidance managing foreign exchange programs offered by U.S. colleges and universities. We also work closely with foreign counsel on matters related to international exchange programs. We update our institutions with travel warnings issued by the Department of State to help protect the safety of students, faculty and staff.

Harris Beach Murtha provides guidance on financial aid and handles debt collection on behalf of higher education institutions, including collections on federally backed student loans, as well as collections of unpaid loans for educational resources from private student guarantors. We also manage pre-judgment medical school loan collections for the Pennsylvania Higher Educational Assistance Agency. These medical school loans are backed by the Department of Health and Human Services. We have also collected on student loans for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Harris Beach Murtha provides strategic counsel on endowed funds and trusts, with comprehensive reviews to help ensure maximum funds are available for use. Our attorneys counsel on laws concerning use and spending of endowments, quasi-endowments, charitable trusts, support foundations and other restricted funds.

Successful grant writing involves planning, data and resource research, proposal writing, packaging, submission and follow-up. Harris Beach Murtha offers these services to supplement education institutions’ internal resources. We have experience with grant administration on the federal, state and local levels and have assisted higher educational institutions with grants for equipment acquisition, programs and facility development.

Harris Beach Murtha serves as a resource to education institutions for effective communications strategies before, during and after controversial, crisis or complex communications situations. Our media relations support includes consultations between clients, firm attorneys and firm communications/public relations professionals. This service can also be provided through our consulting subsidiary, HB Solutions.

We provide communications consulting on a wide range of matters involving personnel and student issues, environmental issues, federal and state regulatory compliance, civil lawsuits and criminal investigations. These strategies are designed to protect higher education institutions from potentially damaging consequences to their image, brand and internal morale. We have handled high-profile incidents that have drawn national and international media attention.

Our team prepares and conducts communications for all stakeholders, whether internal, community or media. We also provide media outreach on behalf of clients and arrange interviews; organize press conferences; assess situations to determine the best approach at handling media inquiries; draft messaging, Q&A documents, media statements and press releases; prepare spokespeople with media training; and construct key message points to all constituencies.