Mary Kay Klimesh is a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Chicago office. She engages in a broad-based practice concentrating in education law at the pre-school through higher education levels in both the public and private sectors. Ms. Klimesh provides in-depth assistance and counseling on matters such as board governance; regulatory compliance, including Title IX and FERPA compliance; policy development; due process issues in the academic setting; faculty contract and employment decisions; employee discipline, evaluation and training; investigation of employee misconduct; employee and student civil rights and discrimination issues, including representation of educational entities in response to the investigation of complaints by the DOE Office of Civil Rights; accommodation of employees and students with disabilities under the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act and IDEIA; intergovernmental and joint agreements by and between educational entities; and obligations under the Illinois Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.

Ms. Klimesh has contributed to publications and has made presentations on education sector legal issues for organizations including the American Bar Association, the National Council of School Attorneys, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Council of School Attorneys, the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education, and the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education.

Ms. Klimesh is the past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law. She also serves on the Executive Committee for the Illinois Council of School Attorneys and is a past Chair of the Education Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association.