Trustee
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OSB Board member Thomas D. Rees represents several independent schools in the Philadelphia area, handling employment, student discipline, contract, and governance matters in the education area.
Besides OSB, he has also served as a Board member and Board President of three major civic institutions in his community- a regional art center, the free library, and the civic association.
A partner at High Swartz LLP, Rees heads the firm's Litigation Employment Law and Education Law Practices, focusing primarily on employment and labor law and private education law. He also handles complex litigation and dispute resolution in land use and zoning law and government regulation.
Some of his noteworthy accomplishments include successfully defending a nonprofit, independent school against a taxing entity' attempt to revoke the school's tax exemption on the grounds of single-gender status, and successfully defending an independent school against two injunction actions by students' parents' arising from the school's discipline of students.
Rees also serves as an employment arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. He often presents on employment and education law topics before the Bar Association and private industry groups.
Before he joined High Swartz in the mid-80s, Rees served as the Deputy General Counsel for Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh. He was involved in Regulatory review and reform, Three Mile Island litigation, and negotiation of funding agreements for major projects including Three Mile Island cleanup and seed money for the Philadelphia Convention Center.
