For-Profit Education Lawyers Cash In During Edtech Hiring Spree

Adtalem Global Education Inc., a for-profit education company, paid more than $10 million to two lawyers following the completion of its largest-ever acquisition.

Stephen Beard, the new CEO and former general counsel for the company, earned more than $9.2 million in total compensation in fiscal 2022, more than tripling his $2.8 million pay package in 2021 as chief operating officer.

Douglas Beck, hired by Adtalem as general counsel in June 2021, received more than $1.4 million in 2022 after receiving about $1.2 million from the Chicago-based company following his recruitment during fiscal 2021.

The pay disclosures in an annual proxy statement filed last month by Adtalem comes after the company closed in August 2021 on its $1.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Walden University from Laureate Education Inc.

The merger between two major health care education providers came as demand in the space soared during the pandemic. The deal was finalized after the Justice Department dropped an investigation into the combination.

Pandemic-related changes in higher education, as well as other legal and regulatory matters, have generated increased demand for both law firm and in-house counsel expertise, particularly by companies offering education technology services.

Adtalem turned to five Black and female lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Covington & Burling, Akerman, and its own ranks to clinch the Walden deal. It was a landmark feat in the historically non-diverse world of Big Law dealmaking.

Adtalem spokeswoman Kelly Finelli said diversity, equity, and inclusion are “key tenets” of the company and how it selects external advisers. Adtalem’s legal group tracks outside counsel hours “worked by diverse timekeepers,” she said.

“Tracking these metrics helps drive accountability and intentionally fosters an environment where we can aid in the career advancement of underrepresented talent,” Finelli said.

Adtalem, advised by Skadden, agreed earlier this year to a separate $1 billion deal selling off its financial services and anti-money laundering business.

Adtalem

Beard, a former associate at what is now ArentFox Schiff in Chicago, has been a member of the Black General Counsel Initiative, a group looking to increase legal diversity in the C-suite. He joined Adtalem as its top lawyer in 2018 after serving as legal chief for executive search company Heidrick & Struggles International Inc.

Beard last year succeeded Adtalem’s former CEO, Stanford Law School graduate Lisa Wardell, one of the few Black women leaders of a major publicly traded US company.

Beck, who replaced Alston & Bird partner Chaka Patterson as Adtalem’s legal chief, will look to “reduce use of outside counsel” and integrate Walden into Adtalem’s legal and regulatory operations as objectives going forward, per its proxy filing.

Edtech Additions

Adtalem isn’t the only edtech outfit in the market for in-house legal talent.

Stryder Corp. hired Tesla lnc.’s former most senior Black executive, Valerie Capers Workman, as its top lawyer in January. The company runs the college networking and career placement services startup known as Handshake.

Cambly Inc., another edtech startup, recently recruited Laurence Wilson as its first-ever general counsel. Wilson retired earlier this year from Yelp Inc., where he was the online review company’s first legal hire.

SoftBank Group Corp., a technology conglomerate shaking up its own legal ranks, sold a 15% stake in edtech giant Kahoot! AS to private equity firm General Atlantic LLC in September. The move, which reportedly values SoftBank’s stake at $152 million, came a month after Kahoot hired Ranjitsinh Mahida as its general counsel.

Other Recruits

Panorama Education, a data analytics and education software company that named Nidhi Kumar its top lawyer in early 2021, recently hired Andrew Ting as its legal chief.

Ting confirmed via email that he started July 13 at Boston-based Panorama, which saw Kumar leave its ranks earlier this year to become general counsel for Spindrift Beverage Co. Inc., a private equity-backed sparkling water startup.

Panorama’s new legal group leader was most recently general counsel for West Creek Financial Inc., a financial technology company known as Koalafi.

Mux Inc., a privately held video technology company used by many online education providers, hired a new general counsel of its own in June in Victoria Nemiah, who most recently was an associate general counsel at online learning outfit Udemy Inc.

General Assembly Space Inc., a privately held education provider that last year saw its former top lawyer hired by educational video startup Skillshare Inc., found a replacement general counsel earlier this year in Marjan Mashhadi.

She joined General Assembly from TaskRabbit Inc., a mobile labor provider owned by Ikea Group Corp., where Mashhadi was senior director of compliance and legal.