Education Law

Representing Educators, Students, and Schools

Minnesota Education Law Attorneys

Achievements in Education Law
Current and Recent Cases

The Education Law Department of Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen, P.A. is a unique segment of the firm. It is one of the few units of its kind in any law firm in the Twin Cities or Upper Midwest devoted to representing individuals in connection with education-related legal issues.

Chaired by Phillip J. Trobaugh, former adjunct professor at Hamline University School of Law and the University of Minnesota, Walter F. Mondale School of Law, the Department's attorneys, paralegals and support personnel furnish a broad range of legal services to employees, students and their parents and others involved in the educational process. The matters range from elementary school to college and graduate level education, both in the public and private sectors.

Specific areas of experience include:

K-12 student issues- IDEA/Special Ed., athletic eligibility, academic misconduct issues
College, Graduate, and PhD students- degree issues, academic misconduct, harassment, 1st Amendment
Teachers, Administrators, Professors- licensing, harassment, grievance proceedings
Tenure disputes
Internal College & University Grievance proceedings
First Amendment issues
Equal Access Act

In addition to Mr. Trobaugh, members of the firm who devote their time to educational law matters include Marshall H. Tanick, a senior partner with the Firm; Teresa J. Ayling, whose work includes representing health care personnel; and associate Stephen H. Parsons.

Achievements in Education Law

A substantial portion of the work of the Education Law Department consists of representing individuals who have employment-based issues, including personnel in higher education dealing with contracts, promotion, and tenure, and termination issues. Some of the firm's most notable achievements on their behalf include the following:

Reinstating a medical student in a national hospital program.
Obtaining large severance packages for employees in administrative, athletic, and music departments of private colleges in the Twin Cities area.
Successful appearances before the Board of Teaching
Successfully representing a college football coach who was the subject of defamation by a disgruntled faculty colleague.
Assisting high school principals in obtaining severance payments upon termination of their employment with their school districts.
Avoiding expulsion for a high school senior.
Obtaining a large settlement for a faculty member at Wisconsin who was wrongfully denied a promotion of tenure because he raised concerns about educational issues within his department.
Protecting the privacy of a college student.
Securing a valuable promotion for a PhD at the University of Minnesota.

Although the bulk of the work of the Education Law Department is directed to employment-related matters, the attorneys within the unit also deal with other issues:

Mr. Tanick and Ms. Ayling recently successfully represented the parents of a school-age child who wrongfully denied access to the child's academic records, resulting in a divulgence of the records and approximately $25,000 for the parents.
Mr. Tanick and Mr. Trobaugh have represented a number of students in connection with matters relating to academic performance, discipline, and related issues.
Additionally, the law firm has represented students, parents, and employees who have suffered personal injuries in accidents during academic-related activities.

A number of members of the Education Law Department, including Mr. Trobaugh, Mr. Tanick, and Ms. Ayling, teach courses at area law schools and participate regularly in continuing legal education programs.

Current and Recent Cases

Some current or recent Education Law matters handled by the firm in 2005 include the following:

Representation of a labor union in dispute with Minneapolis School District;
Litigation on behalf of seventeen former students of a massage therapy school alleging claims including consumer fraud, breach of contract and sexual harassment;
Representation of private elementary school in western suburbs regarding state compulsory education law, teacher contracts, bylaws and other legal matters;
Filing of a lawsuit on behalf of approximately fifty civil service employees of Special School District No. 1 seeking back pay and a determination of their rights.

Constitutional law issues also play an important part of the work of the Education Law Department. Mr. Tanick has successfully represented a number of academic organizations in addressing issues of freedom of speech and the press under the First Amendment under the U.S. Constitution. He represented the Minnesota Daily newspaper in a lawsuit that restored its funding after its financing was restricted because of objections to the content of the newspaper in a landmark decision of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Stanley v. McGrath, 719 F.2d 279 (8th Cir. 1983). The case led to the creation by the law firm of a special First Amendment Fund, a program that provided scholarships and other assistance to students for a variety of academic activities in Minnesota.

The Education Law Department publishes a newsletter called Education Watch, which summarizes legal developments in education in Minnesota. The firm also makes an annual scholarship award known as the "Education Law Award" to an outstanding individual or organization who has exhibited outstanding achievement concerning education law matters.

Articles of interest in Education Law written by our attorneys:

Contact Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen for a free initial consultation about your education law issue.