NEPC Topic Experts on Legal Issues

Derek Black is one of the nation’s foremost experts in education law and policy.  He focuses on educational equality, school funding, the constitutional right to education, segregation, and the federal role in schools. He has published over thirty scholarly articles in the nation’s top legal journals, including the flagship journals at Yale, Stanford, New York University, California-Berkeley, Cornell, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. That work has been cited several times in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. It has also drawn him into litigation disputes over school funding and federal policy, where he has served as an expert witness and consultant.

He is currently a Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina, where he holds the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law and directs the Constitutional Law Center. He began his career in teaching at Howard University School of Law, where he founded and directed the Education Rights Center. Prior to teaching, he litigated education cases at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.   

Email Derek Black at: blackdw@law.sc.edu

Kevin Brown, Richard S. Melvin Professor, has been on the faculty of Indiana University Maurer School of Law since 1987. Professor Brown is a 1978 graduate from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business where he majored in Accounting. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1982. After Law School, he worked for four and half years at the Indiana law firm of Baker & Daniels (since merged into Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP). He teaches Race & Law, Torts, Law & Education, Sports Law, Criminal Law and Transnational Comparative Inequality. Brown has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law, University of Alabama School of Law, and University of San Diego School of Law. He has been affiliated with universities on four different continents including the School of Transnational Law of Peking University in Shenzhen, in Shenzhen, China; the National Law School of India University in Bangalore, India; the Indian Law Institute in New Delhi, India; the Law Faculty of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa; the Law Faculty of the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa; Adilet Law School in Almaty, Kazakhstan; and the University of Central America in Managua, Nicaragua. Brown also spent the Spring Semester of 2014 teaching in London Law School Consortium Program.

Email Kevin D. Brown at: brownkd@indiana.edu

Erica Frankenberg is an associate professor of education and demography at the Pennsylvania State University, and co-director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights. Her research interests focus on racial desegregation and inequality in K-12 schools, including how school choice policies affect students’ stratification and equal opportunity.

Email Erica Frankenberg at: euf10@psu.edu

Liliana M. Garces is associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and affiliate faculty at the University of Texas School of Law. She teaches courses on higher education law, equity and diversity in higher education, and race, law, and education. Her scholarship, focused on the dynamics of law and educational policy, examines access, diversity, and equity policies for underserved populations in higher education and the use and influence of research in law. Her work employs quantitative, qualitative, and legal research methods and draws from frameworks in economics, sociology, and political science, engaging in interdisciplinary research to more effectively tackle the complex nature of racial and ethnic inequality in K-12 and higher education. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute.

Preston Green is the John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. He is also a professor of educational leadership and law at the University of Connecticut.

Before coming to the University of Connecticut, he was the Harry Lawrence Batschelet II Chair Professor of Educational Administration at Penn State, where he was also a professor of education and law and the program coordinator of Penn State's educational leadership program. In addition, Dr. Green was the creator of Penn State's joint degree program in law and education. Further, he ran the Law and Education Institute at Penn State, a professional development program that teaches, administrators, and attorneys about educational law.

Dr. Green has written four books and numerous articles and book chapters pertaining to educational law. He primarily focuses on the legal and policy issues pertaining to educational access and school choice. He holds an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law.

Email Preston Green at: preston.green@uconn.edu

Robert Kim is the Executive Director of Education Law Center, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving public education and fostering equitable educational opportunity for students in the United States. His expertise includes most facets of education law and policy related to pre-K-12 and postsecondary education in the United States, civil rights litigation and advocacy, and constitutional law.

Email Robert Kim at: robertkimnyc@gmail.com

Bill Koski is the Eric & Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education and Professor of Law at the Stanford Law School where he directs the Youth and Education Law Project, an in-house legal clinic devoted to ensuring that disadvantaged children and communities have access to equal educational opportunities, as well as Professor of Education (by courtesy). Koski holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a Ph.D. from the Stanford School of Education.  Koski has represented hundreds of youth and families in race discrimination, student discipline, and disability rights matters and has served as co-counsel in four recent complex school reform litigations. As an educational policy researcher, Koski has published articles on educational equity and adequacy, the politics of judicial decision-making, and teacher assignment policies.

Email Bill Koski at: BKoski@law.stanford.edu

Maria M. Lewis is an Associate Professor in Education Policy Studies and an affiliate law faculty member at Pennsylvania State University. Her research applies a critical lens to examine the intersection of education law, policy, and leadership. Specifically, her research explores: how the law can hinder or promote equity for minoritized students; the bidirectional relationship between social science research and laws or policies that implicate educational equity; and protecting and enforcing federal civil rights under the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Email Maria Lewis at: mml25@psu.edu

Daniel J. Losen is the Senior Director of the Education team at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), where he leads efforts to advance educational equity for all students, particularly children of color and others who have faced historic discrimination. He oversees staffing for the Education Civil Rights Alliance, an NCYL initiative that conducts research on civil rights issues and advocates for systemic education reform at the national, state, and local levels. Before joining NCYL, Dan spent over two decades as a civil rights attorney and education researcher, serving as Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project. He is the author of several books and award-winning reports on racial disparities in education policy and is recognized nationally for his expertise. Dan has testified on education inequities before the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, the National Academies of Science, and the U.S. Commission on Civil and Human Rights. A former public school teacher for 10 years, Dan has also served as an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School.

Email Daniel J. Losen at: losendan@gmail.com                     

Julie Fisher Mead is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Mead researches and writes about topics related to the legal aspects of education. Her research centers on legal issues related to special education and legal issues raised by various forms of school choice, including charter schools and vouchers.

Email Julie Fisher Mead at: jmead@education.wisc.edu

Elizabeth J. Meyer is a Professor in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of three books: Queer Justice at School: A Guide for Youth Activists, Allies, and their Teachers (2025, Teachers College Press), Gender, Bullying, and Harassment: Strategies to End Sexism and Homophobia in Schools (2009, Teachers College Press), and Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schools (Springer). Dr. Meyer completed her M.A. at CU Boulder, and Ph.D. at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her recent research has focused on the First Amendment, Title IX implementation, and supports for trans and nonbinary youth. She has discussed her research on FOXNews, National Public Radio, CTV National News (Canada), and other regional media outlets. Professor Meyer received the American Educational Research Association's 2021 award for Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research. She maintains the Gender and Education blog for Psychology Today.

Email Elizabeth Meyer at: Elizabeth.J.Meyer@colorado.edu

Gary Orfield is Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. His interests include the study of civil rights, urban policy, and minority opportunity. His research methods range from original survey research to analysis of national data sets to political analysis of urban decision-making.

Email Gary Orfield at: orfield@gmail.com

Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles

Mark Paige is a professor at UMASS - Dartmouth. He researches legal issues in education and their educational policy dimensions, focusing In particular on how the law relates to teacher evaluation, collective bargaining, public school finance, as well as special education law. He received a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has practiced school law for several years and has published widely in the field, including several articles in law review journals. Prior to his career in academia, he was a public school teacher.

Email Mark Paige at: mpaige@umassd.edu

Dr. Regina Umpstead Pratel is Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Evaluation, and Organizational Development in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville.  Her expertise is in educational law and policy studies. She joined the Price of Opportunity Project in 2022, focusing primarily on the work in Michigan. Dr. Umpstead Pratel earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Michigan State University. 

Email Regina Umpstead at: regina.umpstead@louisville.edu

Joshua Weishart is a professor of law at Suffolk University Law School. His research and advocacy center on education rights under federal and state law, especially state constitutions. Within that discipline, his scholarship has focused on issues of school funding, democratic education, integration, and teacher rights. Weishart’s law journal publications include articles in the Stanford Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, Florida Law Review, and U.C. Davis Law Review. Other works include chapters in edited collections such as the Oxford Handbook on U.S. Education Law.

Email Joshua Weishart at joshua.weishart@suffolk.edu

Professor Kevin Welner teaches educational policy and law at the CU Boulder School of Education. He’s also the director of the National Education Policy Center, which works to build bridges between the research world and the broader public. Kevin has authored or edited a dozen books and more than 100 articles and book chapters, including a casebook for law school students about education law, and a book called Closing the Opportunity Gap, which is the foundation for his recent work about the importance of improving children’s opportunities to learn inside and outside of school, including the Price of Opportunity Project. Welner has been recognized by the American Educational Research Association as a Fellow and been given the AERA's Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award (in 2017), Early Career Award (in 2006), Palmer O. Johnson Award (best article in 2004). The Horace Mann League gave Welner its Outstanding Public Educator Award in 2018. He received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from UCSB and his J.D. and Ph.D. from UCLA.

Email Kevin G. Welner at: kevin.welner@colorado.edu