Our college and university clients are secure in the knowledge that the legal advice they receive comes from attorneys who are concerned with every aspect of the employer-employee relationship in the higher education industry. Our decades of experience across a wide range of industries and practice areas can help you control your labor costs, avoid workplace disputes, and defend yourself when litigation arises.
Labor and Employment Law on Behalf of Colleges and Universities
Experience
Experience
- Venable attorneys successfully represented in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia a local university and its medical school against claims of national origin discrimination, Title VII retaliation, and breach of contract filed by a medical resident dismissed from a residency program
- Venable currently serves as labor consultant to the University System of Maryland (USM). In that capacity, Venable advises the chancellor as to the proper interpretation of and compliance with the state higher education collective bargaining law. We also serve as chief negotiator for a seven-member coalition of USM institutions, which bargains with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) regarding economic and other core terms and conditions of employment of the non-exempt employees at the member institutions
- Venable attorneys won a jury verdict in defense of a prominent Washington-area law school against a former professor who claimed sex and race discrimination and harassment. Venable also defended the case on appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in favor of the university
- As labor counsel and general counsel to a four-year coed university in northern Virginia, Venable attorneys negotiated settlement of a long-standing faculty union dispute at the NLRB. As a result of restructuring the university's faculty governance in accordance with the Supreme Court's Yeshiva guidelines for managerial employees, the faculty union was voluntarily decertified
- Venable regularly advises and represents colleges and universities on all aspects of faculty governance and staff employee relations, including rank and tenure grievances, discrimination claims, personnel policies, employee benefits, and student matters
- Venable has successfully defended its college and university clients before administrative agencies and in the courts against both employee and student discrimination claims
Recognition
Recognition
- Chambers USA
- Labor and Employment, Virginia, 2016
- Labor and Employment, Maryland, 2004 – 2023
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2006 – 2022 (Venable attorneys selected for inclusion)