There’s only one reason you could have for visiting this page. You’re in trouble at NYU, and you’re not sure how to get out of it. Your misconduct hearing didn’t go the way you had hoped. Maybe you tried to handle the situation on your own so you could avoid telling your parents about it. Or maybe you hired a local attorney, but they didn’t know enough about NYU’s judicial system to use that system to your advantage. Not only did you lose the case, but now you’re facing a sanction, something serious, like suspension or dismissal.  

You came to the right place. The attorneys at the LLF National Law Firm can help. Our Student Defense Team knows more about campus justice than any other firm in the country. We’ve helped hundreds of students defend themselves from all types of charges, and we’re familiar with NYU’s appeals system. We can’t promise to win your case. An appeal is your last option. What we can promise is that we will protect your rights, and we will get you the very best possible resolution to your case. 

Before we can do any of that, though, you have to call us. Call 888-535-3686 or fill out our online questionnaire and tell us a little about your case. Don’t wait, though. New York University gives you just five business days to file your appeal—three if your sanction is less than suspension—and there’s a lot of work to be done. 

The Appeals Process at NYU 

It’s not your only option at this point, but your very best option is to file an appeal.  

As an accused student at NYU, you were granted a number of what are called “due process” rights. These rights—such as the right to be treated as innocent until you were proven guilty and the right to review all the evidence against you—are designed to make sure students are treated fairly and that, to the extent possible, justice is done.  

You’ve already exhausted some of those rights now that your case has been decided by a hearing. You do still have some important ones left. First, you have the right to appeal the hearing outcome. In addition, you have the right to an advisor, and that advisor can be an attorney. You want to make the best of that right: you want to hire an LLF National Law Firm attorney. 

At this point, even these rights are not absolute. As we’ve already mentioned, there is a strict time limit on filing an appeal. If you’re facing a serious sanction like suspension or dismissal, you have just five business days to file. In addition, you aren’t allowed to file an appeal simply because you don’t like the verdict. You have to have what’s called “grounds” for appeal. That is, there are only a handful of reasons NYU will reconsider your case.  

  • You can argue that some procedural error occurred in the case significant enough to have altered the outcome. 
  • You can present new evidence that could have an impact on the outcome, provided that evidence wasn’t available at the time of the hearing. 
  • You can argue that the sanction you’ve been given is disproportionate to the nature of your offense. 

Coming up with grounds for your appeal is not your only hurdle.  

  • The outcome of the appeal rests in the hands of one individual. Your hearing took place before a panel, and a majority of that panel had to believe you were Responsible for your offense. This time, only the dean of your school will consider your case. 
  • You are not entitled to a hearing. You will have no direct contact with the Appeal Officer. This means you cannot make your case in person. Your arguments on paper must be compelling. 
  • Unless you have new evidence to submit, the Appeal Officer will only consider the documentary record of the original hearing and the contents of your appeal. 
  • You are no longer presumed “innocent.” In fact, you’ve been found Responsible (guilty). That means you have the burden of proving the university should reconsider your case. 

None of this information is to suggest that you shouldn’t appeal your case. You absolutely should. If you’ve been suspended or dismissed, you have nothing to lose at this point by fighting the judgment against you. Furthermore, students can and do win appeals. 

What it is to suggest is that you don’t want to undertake this process alone. You need the best help you can get, not just an attorney, but an attorney with experience defending students, someone who knows how campus judicial systems operate, and who has a background working with faculty and administrators. In short, you need someone from the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team. 

The Appeal Officer can make one of three decisions: 

  • They can accept the hearing decision, at which point you are out of options in terms of NYU’s judicial system. 
  • They can reduce the sanction. 
  • They can remand the case for a new hearing, in which case your LLF National Law Firm attorney can help you prepare a new defense. 

One Final Option: Direct Negotiation 

You have no more judicial options should you lose your appeal. However, you can still try one thing more: direct negotiations with NYU’s administration. It can be difficult to convince a university’s administration to get involved in these types of negotiations. They need a compelling reason to do so. You have one advantage, though, that other students don’t: you’re working with an LLF National Law Firm attorney. 

The LLF National Law Firm deals with the issue of student rights every day. As mentioned, we’ve helped hundreds of students defend themselves. As a result, we’ve formed significant relationships with faculty and administrators nationwide. In addition, we work frequently with college and university Offices of General Counsel. These are outside attorneys that schools hold on retainer to offer advice on legal matters. These relationships provide important insight into how campus judicial processes work and inform our approaches to the cases we handle. 

We can also sometimes leverage these relationships to open negotiations above and beyond the judicial system. It is sometimes possible, for instance, to convince a university to allow a student to graduate despite their sanction or, at a minimum, to remove sanction notations from their transcripts so they can transfer to another school without prejudice. 

Fight For Your Future 

You need to know now: we cannot guarantee you that we’ll win your case. No one can. As we’ve tried to suggest, at this point, you are in a difficult situation with limited options. No one gives you a better chance of winning, though, than the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team. No one knows the system the way we do, and no one is better positioned to leverage that system for your benefit. 

Don’t wait, though. Again,New York University gives you just five days to file your appeal. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.   

​New York University

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