Sign up for one-on-one chats with MLaw Alum Dan Zibel. Dan is Vice President, Chief Counsel & Cofounder of Student Defense, a nonprofit that works to advance students’ rights to educational opportunity and to ensure that higher education provides a launching point for economic mobility. Student Defense was created in 2017 by former U.S. Department of Education officials who were deeply concerned that federal higher education policies were moving in the wrong direction, especially on the critical issues of student debt and consumer protection.
Dan is a seasoned attorney with substantial experience working on issues of consumer protection in higher education and the authority of the U.S. Department of Education to oversee schools and other participants in the Federal Student Aid programs. Prior to joining Student Defense, Dan served as the Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, where he oversaw that office’s legal advice and litigation on higher education matters. Dan played a key role in some of the most high profile and impactful efforts to protect students from predatory actors in higher education. He served as the lead legal counsel to the Enforcement Unit at Federal Student Aid and managed a team of attorneys handling matters involving institutions of higher education. Dan also represented the Department on the Obama Administration’s Inter-Agency Task Force on For-Profit Education and coordinated extensively with partners at federal and state agencies, including state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice on False Claims Act litigation.
In 2026, Dan was asked to join the AI Advisory Council for the University of Michigan Law School, a group of alumni and leaders from across the legal profession, the technology sector, and academia to advise the law school on its engagement with artificial intelligence and its commitment to shaping how the legal profession adapts to rapidly evolving technologies.
RSVP via Symplicity for an individual 20 minute slot to chat with Dan.