Student Defense – Yale Law School

Yale Law School is a highly competitive environment. Keeping up can be a challenge under normal circumstances. Students facing accusations of academic misconduct have to deal not only with the stress of classes but the stress of the allegations posed against them, as well.

Luckily, students facing these allegations can work with a legal advisor throughout the investigation process. Legal advisors can represent the student in conversations with the university's Dean of Student Affairs while making sense of what may seem like an impossible situation.

Yale Law School's Academic Investigations

Yale Law School outlines its expectations for its students in its Academic Integrity Policy. This policy details both the attributes students are meant to uphold as well as the behaviors that may lead to an academic investigation. Academic offenses include:

• Falsifying student data in or outside of a classroom setting.
• Inter-student collaboration when such behavior is not permitted by an instructor.
• Plagiarizing or self-plagiarizing one's work.
• Turning in work completed by another student or entity without crediting that party.
• Purchasing work or notes completed by another student without express permission from an instructor or the university at large.
• Cheating on exams, assignments, and other in-class work with help from another student or unauthorized materials.

If a party believes that a student at Yale Law School has engaged in one of the above behaviors, then that party may submit a report noting as such to the Office of Student Affairs. From there, representatives from the office will consider the case and advance it, if doing so is deemed appropriate.

The university notes that instances of academic misconduct should not be settled privately between an instructor and the accused student. Rather, the university expects that all instructors or other supervisory bodies will report behavior they believe to be in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy within that behavior's statute of limitations.

The Investigation Process

Academic misconduct investigations conducted by Yale Law School involve the following steps:

1. The initiation of the allegation – as mentioned, a party who believes that a student has engaged in some manner of academic misconduct as defined by the Academic Integrity Policy must report that behavior to the Dean of Student Affairs.
2. The Dean of Student Affairs must follow up on the allegation within two weeks of receiving an instructor's report. During this time, the dean may determine whether or not there are reasonable grounds within the incident to pursue an academic investigation.
3. The Dean of Student Affairs will kick off an inquiry during which a committee will review the evidence surrounding the incident and assess it for validity.
4. The committee will submit a report of their findings to the dean.
5. If deemed appropriate, the dean will, after assessing the report submitted by the committee, open an investigation during which more evidence surrounding the incident will be gathered.
6. The accused student will receive notification that an investigation has been opened into their behavior and may be invited to speak to the committee in regards to the allegations.
7. Based on evidence gathered and parties addressed, the dean will determine whether or not the student in question violated Yale Law School's Academic Integrity Policy.
8. Students who believe that the dean's decision is unfounded may appeal the penalties leveled against them. The appeal must reach the dean within thirty days of the investigation's conclusion.

If the charges leveled against a student seem to have been issued with ill intent, then the party who issued them may face disciplinary action.

Sanctions for Academic Misconduct at Yale Law School

Sanctions for academic misconduct at Yale Law School, referred to as penalties, do not differ from those the university might foist upon undergraduates or graduate students in other programs. The university and parties from appropriate offices will apply these penalties based on the severity of the alleged transgression.

Penalties can include:

• Verbal and written reprimands, though any record of these reprimands will be destroyed, in the university's terms, once the student in question has graduated.
• Restricted access to the university's property, including different facilities, activities, and material goods.
• Damages in accordance with any losses the university faced as a result of the alleged behavior.
• Probation, in that the student will be denied the opportunity to engage in an array of extracurricular activities and will be punished severely if caught engaging in any behaviors explicitly prohibited by the university's student code of conduct.
• Suspension, in that students will be barred from the university for a set period of time as chosen by the Dean of Student Affairs. Students who face suspension may petition to rejoin their peers at Yale University.
• Expulsion.

Students who undergo an investigation while at Yale Law School may appeal the penalty placed against them, as mentioned, if they believe the penalty to be incompatible with their alleged violations.

Academic Misconduct at Yale Law School and the Bar Exam

Yale Law School reports all severe violations of its student code of conduct to the Bar exam, regardless of the state in which a graduated student wishes to take said exam. The Bar Exam, in turn, may deny a student the opportunity to take its exam based on that student's history of alleged academic misconduct. In this way, false accusations of academic misconduct can harm more than just a student's academic career. If a student is unable to take the Bar exam, then that student may never have the opportunity to participate in the legal field as a practicing professional.

That said, the authorities behind the Bar exam do consider each instance of reported academic misconduct on a case-by-case basis. Having a record noting accusations of academic misconduct, then, does not mean that a student will automatically be denied the opportunity to test but rather that there is an opportunity for that denial to occur.

Go To Court With a Legal Advisor

Getting into Yale Law School is an honor that students and their families should celebrate. No student or family should have that honor stripped away due to false accusations of academic misconduct, and in circumstances where a student made a mistake or a poor decision, such students should be deserving of a second chance and not have their dreams of becoming a lawyer destroyed. Joseph D. Lento and his team at the Lento Law Firm can help accused students work through these accusations and successfully resolve their cases.

Too much is at stake when faced with disciplinary proceedings at Yale Law, and no student or family should go it alone. As is the case at most law schools, Yale Law school disciplinary proceedings are a unique animal, characterized by intense and rigorous proceedings unlike most other academic institutions. Disciplinary proceedings at other graduate and professional-level programs pale in contrast to what takes place at a law school, and attorney Lento and the Lento Law Firm have helped students navigate the process too many times to count. As importantly, they have a proven track record of successfully resolving law school issues and concerns across the nation which can literally have life-altering consequences if not favorably rectified.

Students and families interested in scheduling a case consultation may reach out to Lento Law Firm by calling 888-535-3686 or by submitting case details in the firm's online form.