Grant Wiens

Areas of Practice:

After more than 15 years of working with education clients, Grant has developed a strong reputation for providing accurate, responsive, and candid advice. He has dedicated his career to the practice of school law and is committed to the mission of educators, helping school districts understand their options so they can make the best possible decision for their students and their staff.

Grant offers a practical and cost-effective approach, grounded in a thorough understanding of the school environment. He has worked with hundreds of school districts, ranging in size from 50 to 50,000 students and spanning the rural, suburban, and urban divide. On behalf of his school district clients, Grant has appeared before the U.S. Department of Education, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Missouri Commissions on Human Rights, as well as defended school litigations throughout state and federal courts.

Grant delivers day-to-day general counsel advice in all phases of school operations, with an emphasis on labor relations, personnel matters, school administration, student rights, special education, and business services. Grant recognizes that clients prioritize results and uses his experience proactively to help school boards and superintendents avoid problems before they occur. Knowing that school districts face scrutiny from a wide array of public interests, Grant strives to improve performance while ensuring public accountability.

As chair of the Labor & Employment Group, Grant assists schools with the management of personnel issues, including investigations and compliance with the complex laws regulating fair employment practices. When matters cannot be resolved or maintained through preemptive counsel, Grant defends schools in all phases of administrative hearings and litigation. He has handled hundreds of teacher terminations, employee due process hearings, administrative reviews, and litigations at the state and federal levels.

Grant is an effective labor negotiator in the union context, using both traditional and collaborative models of bargaining. He has successfully negotiated agreements with various employee categories, developing productive relationships with bargaining units across the state.

In addition to his experience as a litigator, negotiator, and general counsel, Grant regularly devotes a significant amount of time to presentations, providing targeted trainings for individual districts and speaking at association conferences. He has led compliance trainings on sexual harassment under Title IX for hundreds of administrators throughout Missouri, as well as delivered cross-functional trainings to schools on HR matters including FMLA, ADA, and the FLSA.

Outside of his work with clients, Grant is an adjunct professor with the School of Law at Washington University and has been an adjunct lecturer in multiple graduate programs at Maryville University in St. Louis and the Seattle University School of Education. He serves on multiple non-profit boards in the greater St. Louis area and is a founding member of the Grafton Street Fund, a donor-advised fund committed to supporting innovative nonprofit organizations.

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