OUR CULTURE

Guiding Principles

As a firm, we developed the following Guiding Principles to inform and direct our practice and business.  These principles apply to how we treat each other, our clients, our competitors, and the educational community.

  • We believe people have the capacity to learn and grow
  • We consciously work to understand and support each staff person to thrive personally and professionally
  • We use the power of the law to improve systems and expand opportunities for school boards to fulfill their mission
  • We believe we have a responsibility to contribute to the field of education law so that every system has the support to fulfill its mission
  • We believe in a servant leadership approach to ensuring all children have a high quality education

What Sets Us Apart

There are three things that make KB unique: the people, our dedication to students, and our services to schools and communities. 

The People

We have gathered experienced school law attorneys from across several firms to come together and form this firm.  We are each school law generalists and can handle nearly any questions a school district might have.  Our one associate, Cassie Black, is a newly licensed attorney, but not new to schools.  She has been a school administrator for several years.  We pride ourselves in our experience so that we can handle matters for clients in a cost efficient and expeditious manner.  But more than just experience, each of the people here is a good and caring person.  We are passionate about education and about being contributors to a better world.  For us, this practice is not just a business, it is a vocation.

Student Centric

Most of the school law firms out there are labor and employment firms first.  Bargaining and employment work are the two matters that generate most fees so firms have focused their efforts in those areas.  We have chosen a different approach.  We have focused our efforts on how to create environments that are good for kids.  That includes ensuring teachers are behaving appropriately and that districts have collective bargaining agreements that are fair and affordable.  But we also focus on students and how our advice will affect the students you serve.  Unlike most of our competitors, we will often ask you about the impact to students before we give our advice as a way to fulfill this mission.

Service

Our firm prides itself in its service to the education community in more ways that just providing legal advice.  We look for ways we can give back individually or as a group.  We start by providing legal services in a model based on servant leadership.  And we look for other ways to give back to the districts we represent.  For example, we employ transition students from the local high school district every semester.  We attend activities in the school districts we represent.  We teach classes, sponsor classes through donors choose, and plan service projects with our clients.  We often ask clients and nonclients how we can help and we find ways to connect people in order to help districts expand resources.