Some 1,800 higher-education lawyers—most of them in-house counsel—will be gathering in Denver on June 23 to tackle issues that keep general counsel up at night: The college admissions scandal, employment law challenges, immigration hurdles, Title IX changes on discrimination and sex abuse.

The four-day event is the annual conference of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Jerry Blakemore, chair-elect of the group's board of directors and planner of this year's conference, talked with Corporate Counsel about the organization and the legal issues facing higher education lawyers today.

Blakemore, general counsel at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro since January 2017, formerly served as GC of Southern Illinois University for seven years and then at Northern Illinois University for five more years. Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.

Corporate Counsel: Tell me a little about the organization and how long you've been associated with it.

Jerry Blakemore: Our mission specifically is to assist lawyers in representing higher education at both public and private institutions. I have more than 25 years' experience in higher education administration and have been a member of the organization for about 18 years. We have about 5,000 members who are higher-education lawyers, representing 1,800 campuses. We collaborate closely with other organizations, such as the American Council on Education.

CC: Who attends its annual conference, and how many attendees do you expect?

JB: We expect about 1,800 attendees. That includes about 80% in-house counsel and 20% who are attorneys from law firms that represent schools. We collaborate with other associations, such as the American Council on Education, which represents the presidents and chancellors of higher-education institutions. Our membership ranges from the general counsel of the entire University of California system to lawyers who are the sole practitioners in their legal departments.

CC: How can you offer conference sessions that appeal to such a diverse group?

JB: We are large enough that we can offer more than 90 different sessions planned around nine topic tracks. They range from one that is basically a tutorial for new general counsel to employment law and trustee governance. Speakers include professionals from the U.S. Department of Education.

CC: What topic has garnered the most interest from attendees?

JB: Sessions on Title IX [gender discrimination] are always well attended. Our opening plenary session Sunday also is always a big draw for us. It features Dean Erwin Chemerinsky [of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law] speaking about U.S. Supreme Court decisions that affect higher education. He also does an assessment on the court itself, where it has been and where he thinks it's going, especially now with two new justices.

Other highlights include a session featuring health professionals and lawyers discussing how to deal with student mental health issues and one on how to maintain compliance with over 250 federal regulations on higher education, including the Freedom of Information Act and privacy demands.

CC: What do you think are the most important legal issues facing university general counsel today?

JB: I would say the ones that keep general counsel awake at night include:

• Changing federal regulations, particularly in Title IX area, which is evolving. Our institutions have significant exposure when someone is in violation. Right now the Department of Education is considering revisions to the regulations that could Impact campuses significantly. They include changes in the definition of what's harassment, a proposal to allow for all of the parties to examine evidence, and, if you had a case related to one's medical history, one proposal would open that up.
• First Amendment issues, also an evolving area. On freedom of expression, what rights do people on campus have? What rights do third parties have who want to come on campus to speak? The First Amendment also includes the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of religion. We are often trying to make constitutional determinations about how those rights coincide. Then, looking at the Supreme Court case on the cake baker [who refused to sell to a same-sex couple], what can one do or not do, what is discrimination and what is a genuine religious belief?
• Employment law. You have various categories of employees, such as faculty tenured, non-tenured and tenure-track, and all have different rights and responsibilities. Put that on top of other employees, as well as students who may or may not be employees. This is always a challenging area.
• Uncertainty with U.S. immigration policy. If students travel outside the U.S., or if a school is recruiting faculty from outside the U.S., the whole immigration issue has unique and significant impact on higher education. How it's handled goes to the core of who we are and what we do. There will be a session on immigration law; we try to keep the conference topics very up to date.

CC: What about the college admissions scandal that has been in the news recently?

JB: Yes, late in the process we pulled together a session on that. We do have some of our members caught in the middle of it. The session will include speaker Tim Lynch, vice president and general counsel at the University of Michigan and a former federal prosecutor. But for me the issue is not so much about law enforcement as it is understanding the policy and making sure people follow it. Are we clear about our admission criteria, and are we actually implementing it accordingly?