Even in those states where the city, county or state government provides legal representation to school systems, there is an increased need for independent counsel from time to time. We are a larger, more mobile, more interconnected society today than we were fifty years ago. The 21st Century society will be even more complex and the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in it more varied. Parents' fears for their children's futures translate into increased demands on their schools. Taxpayers' fears for their own futures translate into greater resistance to those demands.
Employees jockeying for protection or advantage generate their own demands on the system.
Being Americans, we often take those demands and resistances to court, or to the legislature for redress. In more detail, I see several general trends and a number of specific developments which have shaped the evolving role of the school attorney in recent decades. School districts must critically analyze their legal needs in making a decision on whether to hire in-house staff or to retain outside counsel. Factors such as the size of the district, its past experience with legal matters and expectations for the future, the complexity of its legal needs, the availability of expertise, and the cost of outside fees versus internal staff expenses must all be weighed in reaching this decision, with the recognition that these circumstances should be periodically reviewed and reevaluated. Outside law firms have become much more competitive in the marketplace and are increasingly flexible in serving their clients' needs and meeting budgets.