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Education Law

The team of education attorneys at McDaniel Wolff have significant experience in representing the boards of numerous independent school districts, charter schools, universities, and private charter schools in Arkansas. When faced with legal or policy issues, our attorneys can guide you every step of the way so you can focus your efforts on serving your students. 

If we can assist your school with any legal matters, please call or email one of our education attorneys featured on this page, or submit an inquiry via our contact form available here.

Full-Service Education Law Practice

We have worked with numerous school districts and educational institutions across the State of Arkansas, helping administrators properly manage and comply with a variety of school law issues. We represent public school districts, private schools and post-secondary institutions across the state in all areas of education law, including the following:

• Staffing investigations and discipline
• Student investigations and discipline
• Employment litigation
• Civil rights litigation
• Arkansas Department of Education hearings
• Open-government compliance
• Procurement and vendor contracts
• School governance matters
• Desegregation
• School redistricting

Our education attorneys handle claims involving student issues such as discipline, school violence, special education, testing/promotion, and student records. We also handle employment issues involving teacher evaluation, remediation and discipline, teacher dismissals, at-will employees, sexual harassment, as well as Title IX and Title VII compliance.

A key component of our education practice is the manner in which our attorneys can provide one-stop, comprehensive legal solutions to clients. We anticipate and address the complexities of education institutions by assembling cross-functional teams that leverage the experience of lawyers from many of our other practices, including real estate, employee benefits, non-profit organizations, as well as government relations. This comprehensive approach enables our education attorneys to deliver value-added services to our clients.

Our education attorneys are experienced litigators and have represented educational entities in both state and federal courts, as well as before government agencies at both federal and state levels. We have represented school districts, school board members and school district employees in litigation and appeals in state and federal courts in Arkansas pertaining to the following:

• Employment discrimination and retaliation
  • Title VI
  • Title VII
  • Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Rehabilitation Act
  • Age Discrimination in Employment Act
  • Arkansas Labor laws
  • Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Fair Labor Standards Act
  • Arkansas Whistleblower Act
• Civil rights litigation/42 U.S.C. § 1983
  • 14th Amendment
  • Equal protection
  • Due process
  • First Amendment — free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly
  • Fourth Amendment, including illegal search and seizure
  • Privacy issues
• Student litigation
  • Bullying and harassment
  • Student discipline
  • Special education
  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  • Students’ rights
  • Assault and bodily integrity cases
  • Illegal search and seizure
• Open government
  • Arkansas Freedom of Information Act
  • Arkansas Open Meetings Laws
• School governance disputes
• Employment contract disputes
• Procurement and contract disputes
• Construction claims
• Tort claims
  • Motor vehicle-related issues
  • Discipline and assault cases against school district employees
  • Wrongful death

In addition to providing legal advice and handling litigation needs, our firm believes in the need to focus on litigation prevention through regular consultations with decision makers, resulting in early identification of concerns and issues. Our firm provides a wide range of resources in this regard. Our education attorneys emphasize risk management in the prevention of legal disputes through ongoing consultation and training. We provide legal seminars for administrators and staff members in personnel law, student discipline, and many other issues affecting schools.

If we can assist your school with any legal matters, please call or email one of our education attorneys featured on this page, or submit an inquiry via our contact form available here.