Legal Ease/School Law Notes: COSA mentors the next generation of school attorneys
By Allison Brown Schafer
Most public school districts are multimillion dollar entities. The school attorney (whether in private practice or employed by the district) acts as corporate counsel and advises the school board and the district administration on contract and general business affairs, human resource and collective bargaining issues, state and federal constitutional provisions, state and federal statutory issues, and case law that might impose liability on the district.
On any given day, the school attorney might advise a public school board client about separation of church and state issues, such as the constitutionality of teaching “intelligent design”; investigate an allegation of sexual harassment; meet with a committee of school personnel and parents about educational programming for a student with a disability; argue a case about student dress codes in federal court; or draft a school board policy on state open meetings laws.
In other words, the school attorney can be a district’s best resource in ensuring that the day-to-day business of running a public enterprise goes smoothly.
NSBA’s Council of School Attorneys (COSA) is spearheading an exciting initiative to reach out to law students who might become the next generation of attorneys looking after the best interests of the nation’s public schools.
State association attorneys’ councils, the backbone of COSA, have been invited to work directly with law schools in their state to deliver the message that “representing public schools is a great career.” Attorneys in these groups are serving as mentors for newly minted attorneys who choose the field of school law.
The outreach began in conjunction with the council’s fall 2006 School Law Practice Seminar in Kansas City, Mo. A panel of COSA board members traveled to Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan., to discuss the many facets of education law. Washburn students were invited to attend the seminar free of charge, and COSA’s school law career initiative took off.
Wishing to reach more law students than just a few at each conference, COSA added a section to its website to address careers in school law and posted resources for law students.
COSA has developed a brochure titled “Is a Career in School Law Right for You?” and has promoted it to law school deans and career advisers. It can be accessed from the NSBA website at www. nsba. org/cosa.
The brochure provides a good summary of the types of careers available in school law, as well as a description of the many and varied issues that school attorneys encounter in their work.
Every time COSA holds a seminar, it contacts law schools in the region to invite interested law students, at a reduced rate, and provides a host attorney for them.
In the best of all worlds, there would be a school law club for students at every law school, frontline practitioners would be speaking and teaching education law to aspiring attorneys and administrators, and a clear career path would be available to students who want to pursue a career in school law.
Why has COSA placed such a high priority on outreach to law students? We want to continue to attract the best and brightest students to the field, an exciting and rewarding profession that ultimately benefits public schools and the students they educate.
We also want to ensure that new attorneys entering the field of school law have the best resources available and will join the NSBA Council of School Attorneys and their state council so that they will continue to be effective leaders in legal advocacy on behalf of public schools.
Allison Brown Schafer is legal counsel/director of policy at the North Carolina School Boards Association.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.