Albany Law School is a private law school established in 1851. It has the distinction of being the oldest independent law school in the United States. The law school awards the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 14 concentrations and offers an L.L.M. program. Enrollment in this prestigious university comes with multiple privileges and benefits, opening doors to a successful and fruitful legal career upon graduation. However, to remain in good standing, students must demonstrate the highest principles of academic integrity.
Although Albany Law School's adjudication process and procedures for handling academic misconduct issues are not available publicly, they remain similar to other law schools. Albany Law School has an affiliation with Union University. As mentioned in the Union policy, identifying academic dishonesty can lead to severe consequences, including temporary dismissal and revoking a scholarship. Without the help of an attorney-advisor who specializes in student defense, students face delayed graduation and even expulsion.
Standards of Academic Integrity
Law students must uphold standards of academic integrity as it reflects on the university community as a whole. To reduce violations, the university provides multiple resources for students, such as access to educational resources to help them use information and data correctly and citation tools. According to the policy, academic dishonesty involves the following actions:
- Cheating: Students should not cheat on exams, quizzes, or academic exercises. This action involves allowing others to use your information or accessing information from an unauthorized source.
- Multiple Submissions: Students cannot submit an academic exercise to a professor in one class and then pass it off as original work in another professor's class. Students must receive permission if they would like to recycle work.
- Forgery: It is a violation to forge a signature or a document and present it to administrators as an original.
- Sabotage: It is a violation to intentionally sabotage another student's work or materials from the university to gain an academic advantage.
- Unauthorized Collaboration: Students may not collaborate on academic exercises unless explicitly authorized by a professor.
- Falsification: Students may not misrepresent or fabricate data or information in an academic exercise. This type of misconduct includes false and misleading citations of sources.
- Bribery: Students must refrain from accepting or offering a bribe to gain an advantage over their peers.
- Resource Misuse: All resources at the university are its property. The university provides them for students to use appropriately. Misuse, such as defacing or damaging this property, may lead to severe consequences.
When students engage in the conduct listed above, they face sanctions determined by the course instructor. However, if the student believes that the penalty is not fair, they may refer to the grievance procedures of the School of Law.
Grievance and Appeals
Instructors who suspect that a law student is cheating or violating the principles of academic integrity can impose punishments for the violation. These penalties include:
- Receiving a warning but without an academic penalty
- A reduced grade on the academic exercise or exam
- Assigning a failing grade for plagiarized work
- Receiving a failing grade on an exam where a student cheated
- Lowering a course grade
- Failing the course
The university maintains that professors must deal with the incident fairly and based on the nature of the violation. However, some students may disagree with a professor's findings, especially if there is a lack of concrete or convincing proof. In cases such as these, the student has the right to appeal the professor's decision. When this happens, the law school's grievance procedure takes effect. Since the law school does not publicly display its process or how the hearing takes place, it is in the student's best interest to work with a professional who understands these processes.
Possible Sanctions for Academic Misconduct
Students face multiple negative repercussions for committing academic misconduct besides receiving a failing grade. According to the policy, the more severe sanctions imposed include:
- Revoking a student's scholarship or fellowship
- Disciplinary probation
- Suspension
- Expulsion
Moreover, these sanctions appeal on a student's final transcript, making it difficult to transfer to another law school and posing potential problems after graduation once the graduate seeks employment. With so much that can go wrong, students need the advice of a legal professional who knows what they are going through. An attorney-advisor can help reduce the likelihood of a mistake costing a student their future.
Hiring an Attorney-Advisor
When your career and future as a lawyer are on the line, letting the adjudication process happen without the support of an attorney-advisor won't help. One lapse in judgment or an honest mistake causes more than a minor inconvenience – they may be why the student receives a temporary or permanent dismissal from law school.
Attorney-Advisor Joseph D. Lento has years of experience working with students like you, who need time and the help of a professional to stay enrolled. With years of experience working with students across the nation, Attorney-Advisor Lento comes through and helps you during one of the most challenging times in your position as a student.
Having an attorney-advisor specializing in student defense isn't just a perk – it's a way to increase the chances of not receiving a debilitating sanction. You spend years, time, effort, and money working for a law degree. One egregious mistake can cause you to lose it all – and it may be almost impossible to start fresh at another law school. That's because admissions officers prefer applicants with unblemished records instead of those who have red flags on their transcripts.
Don't go through the process alone at Albany Law School. You deserve a chance to fight back against academic misconduct allegations and save your reputation.
If you or a loved one faces allegations of academic misconduct at Albany Law School, don't wait until you cannot take further action. Call the Lento Law Firm today for a thorough and transparent consultation about your case at 888-535-3686.
