Teresa Combs Email & Phone Number

Lexington, Ky

Attorney

Lexington, Kentucky Area

Teresa Combs was a partner in Freeman Mathis & Gary's Lexington, KY office. She concentrated her practice in the area of education law, serving school districts as local counsel and defending cases for insurance carriers. In her early career Ms. Combs was in private practice for eight years advising and defending school districts and businesses. She served as in-house counsel for a large school district for four years before being recruited by the Kentucky School Boards Association.She worked there for 20 years advising and training every public school district in the Commonwealth concerning education law, as well as employment issues. In her current practice, she continues to spend time presenting on school law and personnel law to school board members and staff. Teresa particularly concerns herself with special education and disability law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. She has also served on numerous boards and committees concerning school and education-related matters.

Lexington, Kentucky Area

I handled a large number of special education hearings and appeals, KDE agency complaints and OCR cases. Most were settled. I won a large case where parent requested a $54,000.00 per year private school. I also handled several federal court cases in Kentucky and Ohio . These cases involved alleged harassment, alleged disability discrimination of students and staff, and alleged abuse of process. I also acted as General Counsel for several school districts and provided consultation to a large number of school districts on special education, Section 504, student records confidentiality, and staff ADA and FMLA issues.

As Director of Legal and Administrative Training Services, I consulted daily with public school districts on legal compliance and risk management issues. I also conducted training for school districts and educational cooperatives on a variety of legal topics, both at their sites and at KSBA and other education groups sponsored conferences. I was an administrative lobbyist and regularly provided testimony and written comments to federal and state agencies concerning proposed regulations affecting schools. I prepared resource material for schools to use to train their administrators and other staff. I also wrote monthly newsletters on the topics of IDEA, Section 504, FERPA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. I further co-wrote a Kentucky Student Discipline Desk Reference book for public school districts.

As General Counsel to the Fayette County Public Schools, I reviewed contracts; insurance policies; board policies; employee handbooks; and student discipline guides. I also represented the district in teacher tribunal hearings and student expulsion hearings and assisted with all personnel actions. I further reviewed all board agenda items for legal compliance and guided the school board and district administrators in all legal compliance issues as they arose.

As a private practice attorney, I represented businesses and local school boards. I practiced contract cases and and insurance defense of tort issues in both federal and state courts and drafted contracts and other documents involving business sales and acquisitions.

Juris Doctor, Law

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Political Science And English