Atlanta Public Schools has named a new chief legal adviser.
The school board this month approved the appointment of Nina Gupta, an attorney with the law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, as general counsel.
Gupta replaces Glenn Brock, also an attorney with Nelson Mullins, who had served as APS general counsel since June 2014.
APS pays Nelson Mullins a monthly flat fee of $78,000, which covers all legal services except litigation and discrimination claims, work related to student disabilities, and special projects. Those items are billed at an hourly rate, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open-records request.
The district also uses other outside law firms as needed.
Gupta has about 20 years of law experience, including working with APS for more than five years.
She graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2001 and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Chicago.
Brock also had served as Fulton County Schools’ board attorney, but he informed the board several months ago that he planned to decrease his responsibilities, according to Fulton district spokesman Brian Noyes.
The Fulton board uses Nelson Mullins as its general counsel, and attorney Suzann Wilcox has stepped in as the board’s primary contact.
At a recent school board meeting, Atlanta Superintendent Meria Carstarphen thanked Brock for “defending the school district tirelessly.”
“We have had you on this journey of transformation, and you stayed with us going way above and beyond,” she said.
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