NASHVILLE, Tenn. July 2, 2019 – Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce the formation of a Higher Education Practice Group with the addition of former Vanderbilt University General Counsel Audrey Anderson. As chair of the group, Anderson will lead a multidisciplinary team of attorneys in a range of legal matters needed by academic institutions. Anderson will practice in the firm’s Nashville and Washington, D.C. offices. Prior to joining the firm, she served as Vice Chancellor, General Counsel and University Secretary for Vanderbilt for more than five years.
“Our clients in higher education face a number of unique challenges, and our team leverages a deep bench of attorneys to provide counsel across the many legal issues affecting academic organizations nationwide,” said Todd Rolapp, managing partner of Bass, Berry & Sims. “Audrey’s considerable experience adds to our firm’s long history of representing higher education institutions. During her tenure as GC, she led the institution through the legal challenges related to the spin-off of an academic medical center, high-profile student misconduct, student and faculty disciplinary proceedings, complex employment matters and more. Audrey will be able to draw on this first-hand experience to effectively lead the practice and provide valuable counsel to clients.”
Adding to the 85 years of counsel the firm has provided to public and private higher education institutions, the practice will help clients navigate matters related to faculty and student affairs, the general business of universities, athletics, and the protection and commercialization of academic technology and research. The group will also represent and counsel clients in a broad spectrum of legal areas that are prevalent in higher education, including labor and employment, transactions and technology licensing, data breach and data privacy, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, litigation, healthcare, public finance and bond issue, employee benefits, public safety and risk management, and investment.
With nearly three decades of experience gained as in-house, outside and government counsel, Anderson has advised clients on a wide array of legal issues in education including both student-related matters and faculty matters involving Title IX investigations, student misconduct proceedings, policy reviews and revisions, labor and employment issues, admissions programs counseling and litigation, Office for Civil Rights complaints, compliance and government investigations, and litigation and dispute resolution.
In addition to her prior work at Vanderbilt, Anderson served in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) beginning in 2009, where she was Deputy General Counsel from September 2011 until March 2013. She also has previous experience in private practice as a partner in a national law firm where she represented education and other clients in civil and appellate litigation. Anderson clerked for Judge Harold H. Greene of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her law degree from University of Michigan Law School. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt Law School, where she teaches higher education law and co-teaches a seminar on the Supreme Court.
More information on the firm’s higher education practice can be found here.
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