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Overview

Legal counsel aligned with your academic mission

Today’s higher education institutions face increasing regulatory oversight, shifting enrollment demographics, evolving workforce expectations, rising cybersecurity threats, and growing public scrutiny. These pressures demand more than legal compliance. They require strategic legal partners who understand how the business of higher education intersects with its academic mission and the digital risks shaping modern campuses.

At Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig, we provide legal support designed for the full complexity of modern higher education. Our higher education lawyers work directly with general counsel, presidents, provosts, boards of trustees, and institutional IT leaders to address urgent cybersecurity, governance, intellectual property, and regulatory matters with clarity, responsiveness, and discretion. Whether you are managing a cybersecurity incident, responding to a data breach, expanding a multi-campus institution, or commercializing groundbreaking research, our team delivers cross-functional legal counsel tailored to the higher education landscape.

Our experience in the higher education sector

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig’s higher education legal team represents a wide range of clients in the education space:

  • Public and private colleges and universities
  • Community colleges and regional institutions
  • Faith-based and nonprofit institutions
  • Academic medical centers and teaching hospitals
  • Vocational and professional schools
  • Education-focused nonprofits and research foundations
  • Charter schools and education management organizations

We understand the unique governance, compliance, and cybersecurity risks that higher education institutions face. Our team has advised clients on fragmented IT governance, inconsistent incident response protocols, and security gaps affecting research data and personally identifiable information (PII). We also help institutions navigate ransomware, phishing, and BYOD (bring-your-own-device) risks, as well as the security challenges introduced by remote learning environments.

Our higher education attorneys have extensive experience supporting compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research security protocols.

Whether you’re a research-intensive university, a tuition-dependent liberal arts college, or a nonprofit working to improve access to higher education, Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig delivers legal guidance tailored to your institution’s needs and values.

What We Do

Our higher education attorneys bring decades of experience advising on the legal issues that matter most to educational institutions. Many of our attorneys have served in general counsel offices, higher education leadership roles, or relevant government agencies, giving us practical insight into institutional realities and regulatory nuance.

Cybersecurity, data privacy, and institutional risk management

  • Develop institution-wide cybersecurity policies and governance models
  • Conduct FERPA, GLBA, and HIPAA compliance gap assessments
  • Design secure frameworks for storing and sharing federally funded research data
  • Deliver tabletop exercises and incident response simulations
  • Create campus-wide data privacy training programs for students, faculty, and IT staff
  • Support legal defense and regulatory response after a cybersecurity incident
  • Advise on NSF and NIST research security requirements and institutional risk profiles
  • Ensure compliance with federal and state privacy laws affecting student data
  • Manage breach response involving FERPA-protected information

 

Regulatory compliance and institutional governance

  • Advise on compliance with Title IV, Title IX, Clery Act, FERPA, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), GLBA, HIPAA, and other federal and state education laws
  • Assist with accreditation and state licensure matters, including adverse actions and change-of-ownership filings
  • Represent institutions in Department of Education program reviews, audits, and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigations
  • Counsel boards and senior leaders on fiduciary responsibilities, conflict of interest policies, and shared governance
  • Support institutional mergers, affiliations, consortia agreements, and policy development initiatives
  • Draft and review bylaws, board resolutions, internal policies, and compliance procedures

 

Student affairs and Title IX compliance

  • Handle student disciplinary proceedings and grievance matters
  • Conduct Title IX investigations involving sexual harassment and gender discrimination
  • Provide guidance on ADA accommodations and student disability services
  • Review and update student handbooks, codes of conduct, and housing policies
  • Counsel on FERPA compliance in the context of student records, reporting, and parental access

 

Employment and labor relations

  • Draft and review faculty employment contracts and administrative agreements
  • Advise on tenure disputes, academic freedom issues, and faculty governance
  • Respond to workplace harassment, discrimination, and whistleblower complaints
  • Handle union negotiations, unfair labor practice charges, and grievance arbitrations
  • Advise on employee classification, pay equity audits, and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and wage and hour compliance

 

Immigration law for international students and faculty

  • Advise on F-1 and J-1 visa compliance for international students and scholars
  • Assist with H-1B, O-1, and other employment-based visa petitions for faculty and researchers
  • Counsel institutions on Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) reporting, Optional Practical Training (OPT), Curricular Practical Training (CPT), and Department of Homeland Security regulations
  • Support global recruiting strategies with immigration risk assessments and onboarding guidance

 

Litigation and regulatory matters

  • Represent institutions in breach of contract claims, student injury lawsuits, and academic disputes
  • Defend against Title IX litigation, civil rights claims, and employment discrimination actions
  • Litigate intellectual property matters involving copyright, trademark, and patent disputes
  • Respond to regulatory enforcement actions brought by federal and state agencies
  • Conduct internal investigations and advise on crisis response and reputational risk

 

Intellectual property and research commercialization

  • Represent university technology transfer offices in licensing IP to industry partners
  • Draft and negotiate royalty agreements and spin-out company formation from university research
  • Prepare and prosecute patent applications before the USPTO for university-developed innovations
  • Manage institutional patent portfolios and coordinate international patent strategy
  • File copyrights for educational materials, software, and research publications
  • Register trademarks for institutional names, logos, and branded academic programs
  • Draft and review sponsored research agreements with government agencies and private industry
  • Ensure compliance with federal research rules, including Bayh-Dole Act requirements
  • Advise on IP ownership and attribution in collaborative and grant-funded research

 

Real estate and construction

  • Advise on campus master planning, capital projects, and public-private partnerships (P3s)
  • Draft construction contracts, architect agreements, and project delivery models
  • Counsel on land use, zoning, permitting, and environmental law compliance
  • Assist with real estate transactions, ground leases, bond-financed developments, and tax exemption matters
  • Represent institutions in facilities litigation, easement disputes, and contractor claims

 

Financial transactions and institutional advancement

  • Structure and negotiate bond financings, public offerings, and institutional lending agreements
  • Advise on tax-exempt status, unrelated business income, and endowment restrictions
  • Support charitable gift agreements, bequest management, and estate-related disputes
  • Counsel advancement offices on naming rights, donor intent, and deferred giving strategies
  • Provide guidance on alumni engagement, fundraising compliance, and gift acceptance policies

Our Team

Partner

Thomas Dunlap

Partner

Robert Greenspoon

Partner

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Intern Program

As part of our effort to recruit, develop and retail the best and brightest attorneys, Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig offers a summer intern program for promising law school students who are looking to work as part of an innovative and incredibly successful team. With a global team of lawyers, selected candidates are able to work on high level projects in a collaborative space.

Paralegals and Legal Support Staff

At Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig, our team of paralegals and staff work together collaboratively along side our attorneys toward a common goal. We have created a positive work environment where our paralegals and legal assistants work to successfully reach firm-wide goals and support each other to combine individual strengths to enhance team performance. They regularly assist our attorneys with organizing and maintaining files, conducting legal research, and preparing documents.