THE DEMONSTRATION OF NEED, BENEFITS, AND OUTCOMES OF IN-HOUSE COUNSEL FOR A MID-SIZED URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF TEXAS

• Main Author: Jimerson, Philip Bret
• Other Authors: Mike Sacken
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Texas Christian University 2008
• Subjects: School of Education
• Online Access: http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-12182008-161630/

Examining whether in-house counsel for a mid-sized urban school district in the State of Texas constitutes a valuable resource or an unnecessary expense was the purpose of this study. Specifically, the study analyzed the true value of in-house counsel for mid-sized urban school districts in Texas via the case study method. The case studies were structured to examine four separate issues faced by a mid-sized urban school district. The issues studied involved students rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, construction and resulting disputes, personnel problems, and instructional controversies involving First Amendment rights. The issues ranged from those where the mid-sized urban school district had no legal advice to situations in which in-house counsel was involved at each and every step. When the mid-sized urban school district acted without legal advice in two of the four case studies, the result was observed to be violations of law and resulting contract disputes. The former could, and unless corrected, would likely lead to litigation whereby the mid-sized urban school district would face significant financial exposure, not only for defense costs, but also resulting damage awards because the school district would have minimal defenses available. The latter did, in fact, result in outside legal fees, litigation, and construction delays the inconvenience of which cannot be reasonably measured. In contrast, when the mid-sized urban school district acted either with the advice of in-house counsel or directly through in-house counsel, politically charged and potentially litigious situations were resolved with no outside legal fees or litigation of any kind. In fact, when in-house counsel was involved early and often, the challenges faced by the mid-sized urban school district quietly and quickly dissipated. Although measuring actual cost savings is difficult, it is apparent that the mid-sized urban school district likely benefitted financially from the absence of litigation, and perhaps even more so from the absence of lingering classroom distractions. Hence, this study reasonably supports the conclusion that in-house counsel is a valuable asset to mid-sized urban school districts.