The Richmond School Board just gained some legal fire power in its dispute with City Hall over the fate of the 40-year-old Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center in North Side.

The board has accepted free legal services from Thomas M. “Tom” Wolf, managing partner of the Richmond office of the Baltimore-based Miles & Stockbridge law firm.

Inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame earlier this year, Mr. Wolf will now represent Richmond Public Schools on matters related to the 6,000-seat basketball arena that has hosted RPS convocations and community events and also served as a temporary shelter during storms.

Mr. Wolf contests the city administration’s view on the building that now occupies a key 4-acre parcel of the Diamond District at Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Robin Hood Road.

In a recent opinion, Mr. Wolf noted that RPS has operated the building since it opened in 1982 and that state law bars the city from taking any action until the school board votes to return the center to the city. He stated that his view is supported by a federal court decision.

In his view, any transfer of the building from RPS to the city would trigger a city ordinance that would require the city to put any proceeds from the sale of the center into a special fund to be used to improve existing schools.

The position is completely opposite to the one that City Attorney Haskell C. Brown III has taken. In Mr. Brown’s view, the city holds title to the center, could authorize the building to be demolished to make way for redevelopment when it pleases and would not have to use any money from a sale of the land to benefit RPS.

City Council this week passed a resolution directing Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration to come up with ways to provide replacement space for the programs held at the Ashe Center.

According to the city, the Ashe building will remain in place for some years to come. That site is listed as part of phase 4, the final phase of the Diamond District development, which is projected to take at least 15 years to complete.