Cheryl, a Shareholder in our Austin office, has an encyclopedic mind when it comes to school law. Her extensive knowledge stems from more than sixteen years with the Texas Association of School Boards before attending law school, coupled with a career-long practice at Schwartz & Eichelbaum Wardell Mehl and Hansen, P.C. that began as a law clerk while attending law school at the University of Texas School of Law. She now is the firm’s expert in drafting and reviewing briefs for state and federal courts, local policies, and employment contracts.
We rely on Cheryl’s expertise in student, governance, and personnel issues, specifically Chapter 21 contract analysis and in both authoring and editing the firm’s training materials in all areas of law. As primary author of the firm’s Model Student Code of Conduct, Model Student Handbook, and Model Employee Handbook, she provides the distinctive “voice” of Schwartz & Eichelbaum Wardell Mehl and Hansen, P.C. materials.
Cheryl’s experience also serves clients in her representation before the Commissioner of Education in appeals of grievances, nonrenewals, and detachment/annexation controversies and her successful defense of a taxpayer lawsuit challenging a board’s decision on an expenditure. Cheryl is a frequent drafter of “friend of the court” briefs for the TASB Legal Assistance Fund and speaks on various employment issues at conferences of the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, the University of Texas Law School’s School Law Conference, TASA/TASB Convention, and other education law conferences.
Cheryl graduated with a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1997. In addition to admission to all Texas courts, she is admitted to practice in the following federal courts: U.S. District Court, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas; U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. Cheryl is a member of the Texas and National Council of School Attorneys (and has been an officer in the Texas CSA), and the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.
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