LAUSD legal counsel named to fill UCLA’s top legal post

Kevin S. Reed has been selected the new UCLA vice chancellor of legal affairs and associate general counsel of the University of California. His appointment becomes effective March 1, pending the approval of the UC Board of Regents.

General counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) since 2004, Reed brings to UCLA a broad understanding of and appreciation for the value of public education, said Chancellor Gene Block in announcing Reed’s appointment Jan. 17. “Throughout his distinguished career, he has championed equity and access to education, transportation, healthcare, housing and criminal justice. He has successfully managed a broad range of complex issues, many of which we face frequently at UCLA,” the chancellor said.

At LAUSD, he has advised department and division heads on such issues as public finance, ethics, bond measures, regulatory compliance, civil rights, human resources, environmental law, the public records act and real estate. He has also overseen the district’s offices of ethics, educational equity compliance and equal opportunity, and directed its collective bargaining with eight different unions.

Between 1996 and 2004, first as associate and later as partner at Strumwasser & Woocher LLP in Santa Monica, Reed specialized in civil litigation and counseling on complex issues of education law, constitutional law, insurance regulation and advice to nonprofits. He has handled cases involving a constitutional challenge to the method used in distributing state funding for school construction, resulting in more than $600 million in state funding for the LAUSD.

Reed received his J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and his B.A. with high distinction from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the California, New York and Massachusetts state bars and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

“I also want to express our deep gratitude to Joe Mandel, who has so graciously served as special assistant to the chancellor for legal affairs following his retirement as vice chancellor,” Block added.