The NCHERM Story
Best Practices for Campus Health and Safety
"The NCHERM Way" — OUR STORY
January, 2012
Today, NCHERM is a think tank of twenty-one consultants and five administrative staff members. We have consulted with more than 2,200 colleges and schools. We represent 30 colleges and universities, making NCHERM the largest specialized higher education law practice in the country. Every day, more schools and colleges enhance the health and safety of their communities the NCHERM way. Our reach is vast and our impact is significant.
But, it wasn’t always that way. Remembering how we got here is important to keeping us connected to our mission. It is also important to tell our story to you so that you can see how the NCHERM way is a good fit for your needs.
Brett Sokolow founded NCHERM twelve years ago with the goal of identifying, developing and delivering best practices for school and campus health and safety. In college, Brett’s experience as a peer educator and support person to a victim of sexual assault led him to believe that Title IX could change the way schools and colleges addressed sexual violence. Research and writing in law school convinced him that Title IX would reshape school and campus safety issues. He wanted to be at the forefront of that reshaping, and he faced a choice in how to do it. He could use his legal expertise to litigate against schools and colleges, or he could work from within the field of education to help the field embrace critical new concepts, rather than impose them. He chose to work for change from within the field, and he has never regretted that choice.
NCHERM was formed in 2000 as a not-for-profit corporation in Pennsylvania.* It took a while to catch on. Preventive law, and prevention through risk management were somewhat alien concepts for higher education in the early 2000s. NCHERM ran up mountains of credit debt as the field struggled to understand what NCHERM was, and how it could be relevant. Sokolow began to wonder about the wisdom of starting his own firm straight out of law school. Yet, he stuck to his vision, and in 2003 – 2004, the field began to turn to NCHERM for systems-level solutions to vexing health and safety challenges. Some clients engaged NCHERM in a consulting role, while others retained NCHERM as legal counsel. Brett was soon maintaining a schedule of more than 100 school and campus visits a year. His wife, Cori, joined him as Executive Director, and NCHERM thrived as a mom and pop shop in the room above their garage.
The Sokolows found that the education field wanted to know more about risk management, and was genuine in its desire to learn and embrace the concepts. Brett wrote constantly and traveled incessantly, and discovered like-minded colleagues from all over the country. From these kindred spirits, NCHERM developed a core of affiliated consultants who could help to advance the NCHERM way.
NCHERM continued to innovate, with models that became the standards in the field. Kate Halligan joined NCHERM in 2006 as Director of Client Relationships, a title that speaks volumes about NCHERM’s priorities. In 2009, Samantha Dutill joined NCHERM as a Client Relations Coordinator. Sam was quickly promoted to Associate Executive Director, and now serves as Executive Director, where she oversees all operations. In 2011, Michelle Issadore was recruited to serve as NCHERM’s Director of Educational Programs and to help run a new venture.
It is worth note that 2009 also saw a transformative expansion of NCHERM’s executive structure, as W. Scott Lewis, J.D., joined NCHERM as a partner. In 2010, Saundra K. Schuster, J.D., joined the NCHERM family as its third partner. Affiliated consultants continued to join, and with the partners, gave new energy and potential to NCHERM’s ability to bring the best minds in the field together in fruitful collaboration.
2009 also marked the first opportunity for NCHERM to engage in the second level of its mission, venture philanthropy. Venture philanthropy, for NCHERM, means that if the field is enriching the firm, the firm needs to enrich the field. Perhaps that is another way of saying that to whom much is given, much is expected. NCHERM decided to seed a new venture, NaBITA (the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association) as a not-for profit membership association. The goal was create an endowment, staff and support structure, and to nurture the association until it could become independent and stand on its own as a resource for the field. The independence occurred in 2011, and NaBITA is now home to 1,000 school and college administrators who participate in behavioral intervention and threat assessment teams as a student support and violence prevention mechanism. Brett Sokolow serves as Executive Director of NaBITA, but much of the day-to-day management of the association is ably performed by Samantha Dutill, whose job is now divided between being Executive Director for NCHERM and Associate Executive Director for NaBITA.
Venture philanthropy continued to be a theme in 2011, as NCHERM used its successful formula to seed two more independent, not-for-profit associations. SCOPE, the School and College Organization for Prevention Educators was funded with a grant from NCHERM, as a professional home for those who work in the many facets of prevention at schools and on college campuses. Its first conference in October of 2011 was a seminal moment in the prevention field. SCOPE is run by Michelle Issadore, who serves as its Executive Director while also providing services to NCHERM as Director of Educational Programs.
ATIXA, the Association of Title IX Administrators, launched in August of 2011. Already, ATIXA has more than 400 active members, and has provided training on Title IX, civil rights, discrimination and investigations to more than 600 school and college administrators across the country. Brett Sokolow serves ATIXA as Executive Director, as well.
Also in 2012, an umbrella organization was created to link all of the organizations synergistically, though they are each independent, self-sustaining entities. The NCHERM Group, chaired by Brett Sokolow, is the overarching umbrella for NCHERM, SCOPE, ATIXA, NaBITA, and four subsidiaries wholly owned by NCHERM -- NCHERM-CR, its conflict resolution consultancy, the Behavioral Mental Health Concerns Team (BMHCT) and the websites Student Affairs eNews.com and Title IX Expert Witness.com. Cori Sokolow, now in the role of Executive Director of the NCHERM Group, provides the strategic glue that helps each of these organizations to support each other’s missions, capture synergies, and advance the field.
And, that brings us back to today, and a personal note from founder and Managing Partner Brett A. Sokolow, Esq.:
Friends and Colleagues, the NCHERM Group is thriving, and we’re only thriving because you – the practitioners and administrators in the education field – find us relevant to your needs. We are grateful for your amazing loyalty and support, and we are paying it forward. We’re a socially conscious firm, we give back, and we treat our staff and our clients as family.
We’re doing our best to not only stay relevant to your work, but to expand our ability to provide leadership to the field. Our track record is our best asset. More than 80% of our clients are repeat clients. We represent the legal needs of more campuses than any other firm, and we get results. We are successful in court, and successful in keeping our clients out of court. We’re sought after as expert witnesses, and as media commentators, we help to shape the public debate and perceptions of school and campus safety. We are collaboratively moving the great wheel forward each and every day. “Best practices for school and campus health and safety.” That’s our mission. If it’s yours, too, please contact us to learn more about how we can help you to improve the health and safety of your schools, districts and campuses…the NCHERM way.
*NCHERM is not a federal 501(c)(3). It does not take donations or operate as a charitable foundation. It is not tax exempt.