Dr. Ronald B. Standler attorney in Massachusetts
education law
college and university law
I am licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and
admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Massachusetts,
as well as admitted to practice at the U.S. Supreme Court.
In part because I was a full-time student in universities for 13 years
and a professor for another 10 years,
I am interested in legal problems that occur in higher education,
for example:
copyright law, for example:
copying of books, periodicals, music, or documents on the Internet
by instructors for use in classes
authorship disputes
misconduct in scientific research
ownership of intellectual property developed by professors or students
privacy violations
developing rules and policy statements
and other academic issues
I can easily travel to towns in northeastern Massachusetts,
or to the Boston area, including Cambridge, MA.
About Dr. Standler
By way of introduction, I:
earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1977,
was a professor of electrical engineering for ten years,
wrote more than 30 archival technical papers and one book, and
am an attorney in Massachusetts since December 1998.
Please note that I concentrate in higher-education law (i.e., law in
colleges and universities), however some of the same issues
(e.g., injuries in science laboratories, plagiarism,
copyright infringement, computer acceptable use policy, etc.)
also occur in elementary schools and high schools.
My homepage at www.rbs2.com/
contains links to documents with my credentials,
my current fees, how to contact me, and
links to my essays on other topics in law.
My Essays About Education Law
Essays on this website are provided only to provide general information
and to communicate my personal comments on interesting topics in
law, technology, and society. Essays on this website are neither
legal advice nor legal opinion. Accessing this website or reading
documents on this website does not create an attorney-client
relationship. See my disclaimer
for details.
All essays at this website are protected by copyright.
I have posted my Terms Of Service
for printing, copying, and distributing my essays
at this website.
I am an attorney only in Massachusetts, so I can not provide
legal advice to people in other states of the USA, unless they have been
injured or sued in Massachusetts, or unless your local attorney hires me as a consultant.
However, I have posted the following hints for
how to find an attorney.
My essay on academic freedom for professors
argues that this "freedom" is not a fundamental right recognized by
law in the USA, but is a contract right granted by colleges and
universities. I have posted a separate essay on
freedom of speech for government employees in
the USA, which discusses the opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court
in the landmark cases of Pickering and Connick v. Myers,
as well as other Supreme Court cases in this area, then briefly
discusses how lower courts have applied these principles to professors
who are employed at state universities.
My third essay in this series,
professional ethics & wrongful discharge
discusses legal protections under state law for learned professionals
(e.g., attorneys, physicians, nurses, engineers, scientists)
whose employment was terminated because the employees
chose to uphold ethical principles of their profession.
My essay on academic abstention
explains a doctrine that is poorly articulated by judges, in which
judges refuse to review purely academic decisions by schools or colleges.
The consequence of this doctrine is that the school or college always
wins in disputes involving grading, expulsion of a student for failure
to maintain minimum academic standards, acceptability of a thesis or
dissertation, etc.
My essay on injuries in school science laboratories
discusses principles of negligence, and possible defenses and immunities,
for teachers in elementary school and high school, as well as
for professors in colleges.
My long essay on the law of plagiarism
has many quotations from court cases involving plagiarism
by students or professors, as well as statutes and court cases
involving the sale of term papers, and practical advice to
faculty about how to detect plagiarism.
Colleges can revoke degrees if plagiarism, or other misconduct, is
discovered after a student has graduated.
My essay on educational malpractice
discusses this new tort that is not allowed by judges in the USA,
but is consistent with traditional principles of tort law.
My discussion of issues in preparing a
Computer Acceptable Use Policy
mentions more than twenty substantive issues to consider,
as well as has comments on style of regulations.
A complicated legal problem is discussed in my long essay,
Reimbursement of Educational Expenses at Divorce in the USA,
in which supporting spouses seek reimbursement of educational expenses,
possibly including living expenses too, for their ex-spouses' education
(e.g., medical school, law school, dental school, business school, etc.)
that greatly increased the earning potential of the supported spouses.
My essay, U.S. Government Restrictions on Scientific Publications,
discusses restrictions on publishing information about weapons of mass
destruction, restrictions on encryption technology,
and trade restrictions on providing services or technology to rogue nations.
Some attorneys have claimed that a professor has a fiduciary duty to students. My essay
reviews the reported cases and explains why the professor-student relationship is not a
fiduciary relationship.
Copyright 2009 by Ronald B. Standler
This document at http://www.rbs2.com/iedu.htm
first posted 14 Jan 2009, version 5 Nov 2009.