Youth-Serving Organizations

Overview

Taylor English’s Youth-Serving Organizations group is dedicated to protecting and enhancing your passion for service. Our attorneys use their industry experience to help safeguard your ability to pursue your mission and serve your clients.

We regularly advise day care centers, camps, mentoring organizations, non-profits, schools and social welfare organizations that work with young people.

We understand that our clients face legal issues unique to their mission. Our attorneys frequently work with organizations to meet their social and financial goals by providing legal counsel on the following matters:

Compliance with state laws and licensing standards,
Defense of personal injury and abuse claims,
Contract disputes, defamation claims and other litigation,
Internal investigations,
Employment matters,
Non-profit governance,
Risk management, and
Tax issues.

"We look to Taylor English to provide a full range of services for our members. They understand the challenges of running a child care center and are our 'go to' firm when our members have licensing issues and general litigation."

- Carolyn Salvador, Executive Director, Georgia Child Care Association

Experience

Lead federal prosecutor in jury trials of rape and child sexual abuse cases along with federal pornography and sex trafficking cases.
Deborah was the federal prosecutor in numerous jury trials of rape and child sexual abuse cases from Cherokee Indian Reservation in western North Carolina. She has also represented plaintiffs in civil rights cases in federal court, and participated in two constitutional claims before the United States Supreme Court.
Achieved summary judgment for defendant in copyright case involving speech therapy cards
Defended educational products company in lawsuit alleging infringement of copyrights in cards for assistance with speech therapy. The court granted our motion for summary judgment, finding that there was no infringement of any copyright in the selection and arrangement of Plaintiff’s cards as a matter of law. Ristuccia v. Super Duper, Inc.
Litigation on behalf of day care centers
Defense of day care centers throughout Georgia in licensing and general litigation matters.
ACLU action against Atlanta Public Schools
Represented Atlanta Public Schools in favorably resolving a class action brought by the ACLU that raised federal and state constitutional and statutory claims with respect to the adequacy of education, procedures for assigning and disciplining students, and search practices at alternative high school.
Hecht v. Laurelbrook Sanitarium and School
Hecht v. Laurelbrook Sanitarium and School
Represented the defendant, a Seventh Day Adventist school and sanitarium, against claims brought by the plaintiff under Tennessee’s workers’ compensation statutes. The defendant’s defense was based in part under the United States Constitution and the Tennessee Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Corporate reorganization and convertible note offering
Acted as counsel to Dew Learning in a corporate reorganization and recapitalization through which Dew Learning became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dew IT Holdings, LLC ("Holdings"), the former members of Dew Learning exchanged their interests in Dew Learning for membership interests in Holdings, and Holdings was capitalized by the sale of $2.5 million in convertible notes to its majority owners.
Successfully defended a private school against the invalid application of child labor laws to a vocational program.
Solis v. Laurelbrook
Successfully defended a private school against claims by the United States Department of Labor that its vocational program violated child labor laws and obtained an order awarding the school its attorneys’ fees. The favorable opinion from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals established precedent for all similar schools in the four-state circuit.
Assisted Centers for Disease Control in preparation of 2007 publication, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-Serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures.
Advised on legal aspects of standards for youth serving organizations in hiring, screening and supervision.
Appointed by Governor Perdue to Board of Georgia Department Human Resources.
Governing board for state agency, serving on committee for department of Family and Children's services.