October 28, 2019
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Overview
Our team has experience representing clients of various sizes at all levels of the education sector. We help clients navigate the legal issues specific to public and private colleges and universities, charter schools and K-12 public, private and religious schools.
Range of Services
Planning, Opening, & Operation of Public Charter Schools
- Hiring local management for school sites and subsequent school oversight
- Conducting governmental authorization and charter approval process
- Land acquisition, construction and maintenance of each school facility
- Compliance with local ordinances and permitting issues
- Trademark and copyright protection
- Advertising and marketing in each local community
- Vendor negotiation
- Establishing partnerships with local businesses
- Recruiting students
- Obtaining high student achievement
Labor & Employment Guidance & Counseling
- Sexual harassment training under Title VII and Title IX for staff and students
- Employment law compliance training for teachers and staff
- Issues with parents
- Reporting of suspected abuse
- Bullying
- Contract disputes
- Tuition issues
- Amend student handbook and internal policies to address increasing application of the Fair Housing Act to campus housing
- Draft employment agreements for teachers
- Develop and draft employee handbooks
- Defense of lawsuits by disabled persons claiming accessibility deficiencies under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Collective bargaining and union avoidance for universities and other educational institutions
- Obtaining H-1B and TN visas and permanent residence for employees
- Pensions, 403(b) plans and 457(b) plans as well as the unique issues relating to nonqualified deferred compensation for executive employees
- Group insurance benefit issues and income and employment tax consequences of those benefits
Mergers & Acquisitions for Private K-12 Schools
Real Estate
- Negotiate the purchase and sale of University property
- Negotiate and draft commercial leases with private and public entities
Land Development & Environmental
- Permitting
- Development agreements
- Transportation concurrency issues
- Ad valorem taxation
- Growth management
Administrative & Regulatory
- Advice on Florida’s Sunshine Law & Open Government Laws, including training, compliance, and litigation concerning public meetings and public records
Notable Experience
- SLAM!
- Rene Ruiz co-founded and assists with operations for the national public charter school network, SLAM!, with Armando Christian Perez (the artist known professionally as “Pitbull”) with elementary, middle, and high school campuses in Miami, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Antonio, Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Apollo Beach, Boca Raton, and Miami Beach.
- Established and operate national charter school foundation, SLAM! Foundation, to direct the charter school network and assist the campuses, the students, and their local communities.
- Established and operate SLAM! Radio in partnership with Sirius XM (Channel 145), the first and only national satellite radio station run by students.
- Represented a private South Florida university in a highly-publicized lawsuit brought by former faculty members who were released as a group.
- Represent various private college preparatory schools (6-12 grades) in all labor and employment matters.
- Obtained a reversal, from Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, of a $2.5 million dollar judgment on a jury verdict against Florida International University (FIU). The opinion is a bellwether of current Florida law on discrimination and retaliation.
- Represented a private educational institution as tenant in the negotiation of a 80,000 square feet lease of lab space in a specialty bio-sciences building in a new life sciences park in Miami, Florida.
