K-12

Why Cooley

With the largest practice devoted exclusively to the education sector, Cooley lawyers and professionals combine an exceptional depth of knowledge with extensive experience in contemporary education. Our clients include early childcare providers, public, private and charter schools and the businesses that finance and enable those institutions to carry out their work. Our multidisciplinary team provides sophisticated legal representation that enables our early childcare and K-12 education clients to successfully meet the challenges of a constantly changing business, regulatory and technological landscape. 

Areas of Practice

Civil Rights

• Advise clients on accessibility and accommodations for students with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, including ensuring web accessibility and developing policies and procedures for providing accommodations
• Assist clients in developing policies and procedures for compliance with antidiscrimination laws, including Title IX, Section 504 and state laws
• Work with clients on navigating civil rights investigations by the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice

Privacy

• Help clients navigate data privacy issues at the federal, state and international levels

Real Estate

• Counsel clients on land use applications, zoning and exceptions

Transactions, Mergers and Acquisitions

• Advise clients on all aspects of strategic transactions, including public and private offerings, financings, debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions
• Guide clients through complex negotiations, multilevel financings and all other phases of major transactions involving early childcare, private K-12 schools and charter schools
• Assist clients in identifying regulatory consent and approval requirements
• Work with clients to design structures that are most likely to pass approval process and minimize regulatory limitations

Representative Matters

• Advising a private equity firm with an expanding K-12 footprint on education regulatory issues likely to arise in the acquisition of a group of US-based private early childcare, Pre-K and K-12 schools
• Regulatory and real estate counsel to Dulwich College Management International in greenfield of private pre-K and K-12 schools in the United States
• Advised a group of special education-focused Pre-K and K-12 standalone schools on education regulatory issues related to their sale to a larger school group
• Prepared the credit agreement supporting the acquisition of a large vertically integrated early childcare, special education and K-12 provider, including review of pre-close compliance with education regulatory requirements
• Served as education regulatory counsel to a private equity firm in the acquisition of a large early childcare and K-12 provider, which included a standalone school group with a special education focus and a services business offering special education-related services
• Regulatory counsel to Nord Anglia Education in its acquisition of six private preparatory day and boarding schools from Meritas for $575 million
• Regulatory counsel to Brentwood Associates in its acquisition of Childcare Education Institute, a large national training and certification program for early childcare instructors and providers
• Regularly review and analyze state licensing requirements for private Pre-K and K-12 schools