Scott Cole is a Shareholder at GrayRobinson and Chair of the Firm’s Higher Education Practice. He has a unique and intimate understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and constraints facing higher education today, having served as general counsel for the University of Central Florida and associate general counsel for the University of Florida. Scott provides legal counsel and operational consulting for colleges and universities, as well as non-traditional and for-profit educational providers across Florida and nationwide. Notable client relationships include the University of South Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, and Eckerd College.
Scott works closely with key stakeholders on a wide variety of issues, including employment, business transactions, student affairs, policies and procedures, regulations, and contracts. He understands the university milieu and collaborates regularly with presidents, leadership, administration, and governing boards. This deep cultural awareness of higher education professionals and their environment allows him to provide both strategic and preventative counsel in this continually evolving space. Scott supports clients in anticipating risk and guides them through emerging and complex issues, including industry consolidation, diversity and inclusion, revenue pressures, and collective bargaining. When issues do arise, Scott has extensive experience in the oversight and successful resolution of disputes and investigations from sexual harassment to student misconduct.
Mindful of avoiding a heavy hand, Scott takes a collaborative and consensus building approach to his work, helping clients make sound decisions, solve problems, and get back to the business at hand. His rich in-house experience includes transactional, regulatory, compliance, and governance issues, as well as issues involving athletics, due process and first amendment, construction, tax-exempt finance, health science campuses technology, Title IX alternative revenue sources, research, federal grants, and the many competing interests that intersect in large and diversified academic communities. Scott teams with GrayRobinson colleagues in the litigation, labor and employment, and corporate practices to round out client service offerings for large and multifaceted projects.
Tanesha Steward is Assistant Chief Counsel and Director of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Affiliated Organizations where she provides management and oversight of the Affiliated Organizations; created to advance Georgia Tech’s strategic goals and priorities. In this role, Tanesha counsels and offers strategic guidance on capital projects, real estate, technology ventures, international operations and other business transactions. Tanesha ensures that their respective activities remain aligned with the strategic goals and priorities of Georgia Tech and in compliance with the policies of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
Prior to Georgia Tech, Tanesha was an Attorney with the Cobb County Attorney’s Office and focused on Commercial Real Estate transactions, Construction law, and other Contractual matters.
Tanesha is a proud graduate of Howard University (Washington, D.C.) and received her J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law (Columbia, Missouri). Before attending law school, Tanesha worked as a teacher with Teach for America in Atlanta, Georgia.