Craig Price and Austin Payne presented on Critical Race Theory at the annual California School Board Association conference in San Diego. The two successfully defended one of the first CRT-related lawsuits in the U.S. In that case, a highly partisan group sued the Santa Barbara Unified School District to block implicit bias training for faculty and students.

Price is a long-term partner at Griffith and Thornburgh who was a civil trial lawyer for many years before developing a diverse education law practice. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He represents many educational agencies in Santa Barbara County across a spectrum of matters.

Payne joined Griffith and Thornburgh several years ago after working in the Tennessee Attorney General’s office. He handles human resource, labor, governance, voting rights, contracts, Brown Act, Public Records Act and other matters for numerous K-12 districts, the Santa Barbara County Superintendent and Board of Education, and the Santa Barbara City College.