Date: July 30, 2010
Names of Attorneys: King Milling and Tal Hacohen
Name of Firm: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Client Served: Explore Schools

Accomplishment: Assisted Explore Schools with successfully negotiating a management services agreement with current and future charter schools in the network, forming a nonprofit charter management organization, and amending the organization’s conflict of interest policy.

Explore Schools is a New York-based nonprofit that establishes, supports, and transforms public schools in educationally under-served communities and helps to provide students with the academic skills and critical-thinking abilities they need to succeed in a college-preparatory high school.

Explore Charter School first opened its doors in August of 2002 and in 2007 was named the National Charter School of the Year by the Center for Education Reform. In 2008, the founders of Explore Charter School decided to replicate its successful model and approached Lawyers Alliance for assistance.

King Milling and Tal Hacohen of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP assisted the founders of Explore Charter School with forming a nonprofit charter management organization, Explore Schools, Inc., and obtaining federal tax exemption for Explore Schools. After forming Explore Schools, Mr. Milling and Mr. Hacohen reviewed and amended Explore Schools’ conflict of interest policy and assisted Explore Schools with negotiating a management services agreement between it and Explore Charter School. The management services agreement addressed the relationship between Explore Schools and Explore Charter School and the sharing of executive personnel. Recently, Mr. Milling and Mr. Hacohen assisted Explore Schools with negotiating a second management services agreement with Explore Empower Charter School, the first of the new schools based on the Explore model, and are expecting to negotiate similar agreements with several new and turnaround schools based on the Explore model.

Having started with 168 K-3rd graders, today the Explore schools network has grown to include both the original Explore Charter School, which serves 466 students in grades K-8 and Empower Charter School, which was founded in 2009 and serves 154 students in grades K-2.