Shelley Sanders Kehl

Shelley is co-chair of the firm's higher education practice. She specializes in the representation of colleges and universities, independent and charter schools, social service agencies, cultural organizations and nonprofit entities. 

Shelley has been practicing law for more than thirty years. She began her legal career in the labor department of Proskauer Rose, LLP, and served for a number of years as General Counsel and Secretary at Pratt Institute in New York.

Shelley represents a number of higher education institutions providing assistance ranging from serving as primary outside counsel to specialized work in defined areas. Her colleges and universities include traditional and specialized undergraduate, professional and graduate institutions. She counsels them with regard to labor and employment matters, collective bargaining, faculty issues, student matters, Title IX, discrimination and sexual harassment, compliance, corporate transactional projects, governance and acquiring and maintaining NYS regulatory authority and accreditation. She assists with internal investigations, OCR compliance, developing and drafting policies and procedures and training staff to implement policies and conduct investigations. Shelley works extensively with charter schools and charter networks on obtaining and maintaining charter authority, personnel and student matters, discrimination, governance and compliance. She represents a number of independent schools in the New York metropolitan area with regard to employment issues, governance, student affairs, corporate compliance, discrimination matters and regulatory oversight. Her representation of major social service providers has included client and employment issues, corporate governance and compliance, transactional matters and the issues that arise from providing government funded services. Shelley counsels cultural institutions, nonprofit entities and foundations on issues dealing with regulatory oversight, educational activities and programs for minors.

Shelley has been a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys Board of Directors (NACUA), chair of the NACUA Publications Program and, for more than 20 years, has served as the Co-coordinator of the NY-NACUA Affinity Group. She has presented at numerous NACUA Annual Conferences and at NACUA CLE meetings. She speaks regularly on law and higher education issues, including labor relations and employment law, Title IX, sexual harassment and discrimination, students with disabilities and governance. She provides staff training in conducting investigations and handling Title IX and discrimination matters and assists boards with issues of corporate compliance. Shelley has served as a mediator for the United States District Court, Southern District of New York and she served previously as an Assistant Counsel for the Governor's Judicial Screening Committee.