There are all sorts of reasons you may not have hired an attorney to help you with your misconduct case. You may have been afraid your parents would find out you were under investigation. You may have thought a university hearing would be a simple matter. You may have believed the sanction would be light, and if worse came to worst, you could just transfer your way out of the problem.

None of that turned out to be true. You lost your hearing. Now you’re facing a serious sanction—suspension maybe, or even dismissal.

It’s time you got real help. It’s time you contacted the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team. There’s a reason why the University of Maryland – College Park policy allows you to have an advisor with you at all meetings and proceedings and why you can choose an attorney as your advisor. A campus judicial case can be every bit as complex and difficult to navigate as a criminal court case, and often, just as much is at stake.

We’re real attorneys, and we take student conduct cases very seriously. Unlike other attorneys, though, we actually understand how student conduct cases work. We know the University of Maryland system, including how to file appeals, and we’re experienced. We’ve helped hundreds of students get their academic careers back on track.

What can we do for you? Call 888-535-3686 to find out, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your case. It’s important you act quickly, though. UMD gives you just five days from the end of your hearing to file your appeal.

What’s At Stake?

An appeal may not sound like something you want to take on at this point. After all, you’ve just been through an investigation and a hearing. You’re exhausted from preparing your case while trying to keep up your coursework.

Here’s why you have to keep fighting. Literally, everything about your future is on the line.

If you’re suspended, it means you must leave campus. Depending on the length of your suspension, you may have to start paying back any student loans during that time. You can return to campus once you’ve served your suspension, but many students find it difficult to resume their academic studies once they’ve been away. You should also be aware that suspension carries with it a transcript notation describing the nature of your offense. Even if you complete your degree, you will have to answer questions about this notation every time you apply for a job.

Of course, if you’ve been sanctioned with dismissal, you give up whatever progress you’ve made at UMD – College Park. Dismissals also include a transcript notation, and that can keep you from transferring elsewhere. Your academic career could be over altogether.

Appeals aren’t easy, and there’s no guarantee yours will be successful. You have nothing to lose by filing one, however, and having an LLF National Law Firm attorney on your side greatly improves your chances of success.

The Appeals Process at the University of Maryland – College Park

The very first thing you need to know about filing an appeal at UMD – College Parkis that an appeal is not the same as a hearing. Investigations and hearings are meant to determine whether or not a person is guilty of (Responsible for) an offense. That means, for instance, that you were presumed “innocent” in the beginning. The university has the burden of proving you guilty, and all you really needed to do was convince decision-makers that the university had things wrong.

In contrast, the purpose of an appeal is to determine whether or not the university treated you fairly during the investigation and hearing processes. Guilt and innocence are irrelevant during this phase of a case.

  • Far from a presumption of innocence, you are now presumed guilty.
  • The burden of proof rests on you. The university is presumed to have acted appropriately in your case, and you must prove that it didn’t.
  • You no longer have the right to a hearing before a conduct board. The UMD – College ParkAppellate Board will review your case, but you are not allowed to address this body directly.
  • Evidence in the case is much different. At your original hearing, you were allowed to introduce any evidence relevant to the case. Unless you’ve discovered new evidence since the end of the hearing, the Appellate Board will only consider the record of the hearing and your written appeal.

Perhaps most significantly, you are limited in terms of the arguments you present. You may have made any number of arguments during your original hearing, everything from an alibi proving you couldn’t have committed the offense to a claim that you had no motive to commit the offense. Appeals aren’t about innocence, though. They’re about fairness. And UMD – College Park allows just a handful of arguments (“grounds”) with regard to fairness.

  • Some significant procedural error occurred that prevented you from getting a fair hearing.
  • The assigned sanction is disproportionate to the nature of the offense.
  • The decision rendered is arbitrary or capricious.
  • New evidence has been uncovered since the end of the hearing that could potentially alter the outcome.
  • The sanction has an unanticipated effect that exceeds the intention of the sanction itself.

One final note: the Appellate Board decision is final. Should you lose your case, there are no further appeals. Even should you win your appeal, though, it does not necessarily mean your case is over. The Board can reduce the terms of your sanction. Otherwise, it will remand your case for a new hearing, and you’ll be starting over at square one.

Fight For Your Future

We know that this description of the process is daunting. There is one more thing you should keep in mind, though. Students can and do win appeals cases. It’s easy to see why. In all likelihood, your guilt was decided by a handful of faculty and students—maybe a chemistry professor, an English T.A., or a fourth-year poli sci major. Training to sit on a Conduct Board is minimal. Mistakes happen. A lot of mistakes, in fact. You shouldn’t be the victim of a mistake.

The LLF National Law Firm is on your side. You can count on the firm’s Student Defense Team to review your entire case. If there are grounds for an appeal, we’ll find it. We’ll make sure your arguments and evidence are airtight, and we’ll draft an appeal that is both clear and compelling.

As we said in the beginning, though, you need to get started now. You have just five days to file your appeal, and there’s lots to be done. Contact the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.

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