do you represent respondents or complainants?

Both! Handling both sides of Title IX investigations, hearings, and appeals allow us to be well versed in the “other side.” This is important because so often attorneys become tunnel-visioned in their own bias for or against a certain “side” that it can inhibit the ability to predict and respond to facts, strategies, and arguments that could arise throughout the Title IX process. We are uniquely situated with both prosecutorial experience as well as years serving as defense attorneys to handle Complainant or Respondent cases.

The incident occurred off-campus, is this still a title ix case?

Under the current regulations, colleges are obligated to investigate sexual misconduct that occurs on campus or in a school-controlled program or facility. However, that does not mean your incident won’t fall under the purview of scrutiny just because it happened at an off-campus house privately owned and unrelated to a student organization’s party. Colleges will still pursue an investigation under the school’s code of conduct (non-Title IX sexual misconduct). Often times, the two processes are one in the same, refer to each other, and it makes no difference with regard to potential sanctions at risk.

Is informal resolution a good avenue to explore?

No matter if we are representing a Complainant or a Respondent in a sexual misconduct investigation, we believe it is always worth exploring an informal resolution. Informal resolutions allow both students to have some control in the outcome, without leaving the facts up to a stranger, involve more witnesses, suffer the consequences from a culture that may impact an outcome, or gamble with a decision maker who may not see your perspective or apply the policy in a fair way. Parties do not have to commit to an informal resolution, but there is no risk in exploring how a student’s goals can be met in a shorter amount of time and in a more controlled manner.