Diana Brown is a partner in the education group. Her practice focuses on labor/employment law, the negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements, grievance and arbitration disputes, employee discipline, unfair labor practice proceedings before the State Employment Relations Board, FMLA, ADA, and defending employment discrimination claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

Diana has been practicing labor and employment law for more than 25 years in both the public and private sector. For the past 18 years, she has represented public school districts and other public entities throughout the state of Ohio. She enjoys contract negotiations as it is the most people-centric part of her practice. These opportunities to spend extended periods of time with clients allow her to learn about their families, interests, and passions; and to connect on a personal level that enhances the partnership.
She is a frequent presenter at various education law and human resources seminars.

Education

University of Michigan (J.D., 1996)

Bowling Green State University (B.S., criminal justice, 1985)

Professional Activities

Member, Ohio Council of School Board Attorneys

Member, National School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys

Labor Arbitration
Represented public school client in contentious grievance arbitration concerning certain aspects of the OTES teacher evaluation system. The client prevailed and in doing so, not only maintained management discretion in a critical aspect of the evaluation system but preserved a practice that supports teachers in their development.

News

Publications

Additional Items

Speaker, BASA Intensive Labor Negotiations Academy (January 2023)
Speaker, BASA New Superintendents Seminar (September 2023)
Speaker, Best Practices for Conducting Evaluations, Washington State Community College (January 2022)
Speaker, BASA and Bricker & Eckler present: Intensive Labor Negotiations Academy (K-12 Education) (January 2022)
Presenter, "Preparing for Successful Negotiations," BASA Webinar: Hot Topics (January 2021)
Presenter, Friday Webinar: The Labor Landscape – Preparing for Successful Negotiations (Pre-K to 12) (November 2020)
Presenter, Webinar: The Short- and Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Teacher Evaluation, Non-Renewal and RIF (April 2020)

When not working through labor/personnel issues, Diana is often wandering in the woods – sometimes lost, sometimes not. She also spends time shuttling her boys to sports practices and games, fishing, honing her culinary skills on the grill and smoker, and fulfilling her cats’ every whim.