Kevin P. McDonough is a senior member of the Higher Education Practice Group at Cullen and Dykman LLP. For over 30 years, he has counseled and advised universities and colleges in a wide variety of higher education matters ranging from day-to-day academic issues, student affairs and faculty issues and business operations to more complex matters such as strategic planning, governance and compliance, new program development and acquisitions, government investigations/audits, and the formulation and implementation of long term, multi-phase campus development plans. In addition to working with the Firm’s many higher education clients, Mr. McDonough has served as outside General Counsel to several private universities. This combination of experience has provided Mr. McDonough with unique insight, understanding and in-depth knowledge of the legal issues and challenges facing higher education institutions today.
An important aspect of Mr. McDonough’s practice is representing higher education institutions seeking to explore and/or pursue merger, acquisition, and partnership opportunities with other institutions. He recently worked on the successful merger of a small liberal arts college with a large, public research institution. Mr. McDonough has also represented colleges facing financial distress because of various challenges, including declining enrollment, demographic changes/shifts in college age populations, and the impacts of increasing costs in a post-covid environment. He has been lead counsel in the Firm’s representation of several high-profile situations involving college closures and institutions seeking solutions, alternatives, and options to closure, which all involve juggling numerous competing interests, complex choices and difficult decisions. Some of the most complex and challenging determinations for an institution’s leadership team and Board of Trustees can be deciding on when and how to take action toward seeking a merger/consolidation partner, or to cease academic instruction and carry out an orderly wind-down and closure, should circumstances compel such course of action. As importantly, because of his recent and extensive experience in this area, Mr. McDonough and his colleagues have developed solid working relationships and gained the trust of key regulators and accreditors who are critical to successful outcomes.
Mr. McDonough, together with the other members of the Firm’s higher education team, regularly provide clients with guidance on matters including academic affairs; federal and state regulatory compliance (e.g., FERPA; Clery Act); the development and implementation of policies, codes and administrative procedures; campus safety and security; governance and board issues; student and residential life issues; internal grievance and disciplinary procedures; contract review and negotiations; financial aid; staff training; labor issues; faculty and employee matters; and discrimination, harassment and Title IX claims before the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), the New York State Division of Human Rights, and in federal and state courts.
Mr. McDonough also advises not-for-profit institutions on a wide variety of matters, including governance, real estate, zoning, and land use matters. Over the years, he has also served as trial counsel for higher education institutions, not-for-profit and religious entities in federal and state courts and in administrative proceedings.
Before starting his legal career, Mr. McDonough served four years on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1981 through 1985, attaining the rank of Captain.