BRENDA C. LISS, an attorney, joined the Institute as its Executive Director in 2002 after 16 years in the private practice of law with McCarter & English, LLP.  While there, she represented numerous public school districts and private schools in all aspects of school law, including policy development, regulatory compliance, and matters relating to tenure and seniority, pupil discipline, civil rights, special education and school business administration. Her clients included the Montclair Board of Education, the Summit Board of Education, The Children’s Institute and Kent Place School. She also represented a wide variety of public and private clients, including local boards of education and the State-operated School District of Newark, in management-side labor and employment matters. Her responsibilities included counseling clients, negotiating agreements, resolving disputes, and handling litigation, arbitration and mediation in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies.

Ms. Liss’s research interests include the relationships between school finance reform and school desegregation efforts, school district governance and urban school improvement efforts, and land use and education policy.

Ms. Liss holds a J.D. from Rutgers Law School – Newark, where she was the recipient of the Justice Frederick W. Hall Prize for interest and scholarship in the field of land use law and the Carol Russ Memorial Prize for contribution to women’s rights. She also holds a B.A. from Colgate University. Upon graduation from law school she served a special Mt. Laurel clerkship with Hon. Stephen Skillman, JAD, in the Superior Court of New Jersey.