We get it: you’re exhausted. You’ve put everything you have into defending yourself from a serious misconduct charge at CUNY-Brooklyn College. You endured an investigation. You mounted the best possible defense while still attending classes, writing papers, and taking exams. And you still lost your case.

You have every reason to give up and walk away. Don’t do that. 

You still have options. You can file an appeal. You can try negotiating directly with the college administration. Those aren’t easy tasks, and you’re going to need all the help you can get, but you can still salvage your academic career and go on to earn your degree.

The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team was established to help you do just that. We know the stakes, and we know how CUNY-Brooklyn College operates. We’re prepared to use every resource at our disposal to ensure you get the best possible resolution to your case. 

It’s important you contact us quickly, though. CUNY-Brooklyn gives you just fifteen calendar days in which to file your appeal, and there’s a lot to do in that timeframe. Call the LLF National Law Firm today at 888-535-3686, or use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your situation.

Filing an Appeal

Writing an appeal can be a tricky process. It requires nothing less than an entire reorientation in your thinking, and many students simply can’t manage that shift.

We’ll get into writing the appeal next. But first, let’s talk about the general process of filing the appeal. That’s relatively straightforward.

  • First, you must write the appeal. There are no forms to fill out. You simply create a document in which you lay out your arguments and support them with evidence.

  • You file your appeal with the college president. Again, you must do this within fifteen calendar days of learning the outcome of your hearing.

  • Within three days, the president must send the other party in the case notice of your appeal to the other party. This party then has fifteen days to submit a response.

  • The president then has fifteen additional days to issue their final decision in the case.

Writing the Appeal

Most students are under the impression that an appeal is a second chance to reargue the particulars of their case. The original decision-makers obviously got things wrong, and if you can just present your evidence to a higher authority, you’re bound to be found “not responsible.”

Nope. You’ve been found responsible for an offense, and an appeal can’t change that fact. What it can do is grant you the opportunity to re-present your case at a new hearing.

Appeals aren’t about guilt or innocence. They’re about whether the system worked properly. The central question is whether you were given a fair opportunity to defend yourself. If you go on arguing about your innocence, you’re doomed before you begin. You need new arguments about the process. At CUNY-Brooklyn, there are three options.

  • The university made a procedural error in your case that prevented you from presenting your full defense.

  • A new piece of evidence has come to light since the hearing that deserves to be considered.

  • The sanction imposed on you is disproportionate to the nature of your offense.

The argument isn’t the only aspect of your approach that has to change. There are no hearings in appeals cases. The good news is, you don’t need to prepare a presentation with exhibits and questions for witnesses. The bad news is that there is enormous pressure on your writing ability. Everything about your case must be contained in your written document, which means this document must be absolutely clear and compelling.

A note about evidence: unless you have new evidence to present, all of your arguments must be supported with material from the original hearing. Again, you’re not trying to prove your evidence, and proving you were mistreated during the process means relying on material from the process.

As all of this suggests, an appeal is no easy proposition. There’s too much at stake to walk away at this point, though. More importantly, there’s every chance you can win a new hearing. Appeals are based on mistakes, and colleges and universities make lots of mistakes when it comes to dispensing justice. Faculty, students, and administrators receive minimal training in judicial procedures. They allow in evidence they shouldn’t. They exclude evidence they should allow in. They let their biases and prejudices dictate their decisions. Their mistakes are your opportunity to re-present your case.

Keep in mind as well that you’re not alone in this fight. The LLF National Law Firm has helped hundreds of students just like you defend themselves from all types of charges. We can walk you through the appeals process step by step, and we’ll apply pressure on the college to make sure you’re treated fairly.

The Office of General Counsel

All colleges and universities maintain something called an Office of General Counsel or OGC. These are attorneys hired to provide the school with legal advice. They make sure the administration follows the law. They help avoid costly lawsuits. They may even have helped to design the disciplinary misconduct system.

The LLF National Law Firm has developed relationships with OGC around the country. We use these relationships to help predict how the disciplinary process works. We can also sometimes leverage them to convince a school’s administration to negotiate a fair settlement with our clients when the appeals process doesn’t work.

In the past, we’ve managed to get clients reduced sanctions, expunged transcripts, and even new hearings. We can do this because we work so extensively in the field of student defense. This is not a service you should expect from a local or family attorney.

The LLF National Law Firm is on Your Side

Whether you’re entirely innocent or simply looking to get fair treatment from CUNY-Brooklyn College, you owe it to yourself to continue the fight. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team is here and ready to help. We’ll guide you through the entire appeals process, make sure you put forward your very strongest arguments, and guarantee the university respects your rights.

As we said in the beginning, though, you cannot afford to wait. There are deadlines for filing your appeal. Get started now. Contact the LLF National Law Firm at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.

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