Your back is against the wall at this point. You've been through an investigation and a hearing, and you've been found Responsible (guilty). Now you face a penalty, something serious like suspension or even dismissal. Despite the findings, you know you're innocent. Or maybe you did make a mistake, but you know you don't deserve a penalty so severe that it could alter the course of your life.
So, what do you do?
Well, you do still have the right to appeal, but you don't want to take the chance you took with your original hearing and represent yourself. You need an actual attorney, someone to help you make sense of the process, to work with you on coming up with the best possible arguments and evidence, and to make sure you make the very best use of your rights. In simple terms, you need someone from the Lento Law Firm.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is focused on student rights. We know what the law has to say about university education, and we know how the University at Buffalo conducts its judicial procedures. We're always on your side and ready to do what needs to be done to get you the very best possible resolution to your case.
We're also just a phone call away at 888-535-3686. Or you can use our online questionnaire to tell us more about your case. You need to contact us today, though. The moment you receive the verdict in your hearing, you have just five days to file your appeal. That's not much time.
The Appeals Process at the University at Buffalo
It's no exaggeration to say that everything is at stake. If you've been dismissed, you're not just done at the University at Buffalo. You're likely going to be heading onto the job market without a college degree at all. Once you're dismissed from one school, other schools aren't normally interested in admitting you. In fact, even if you've only been suspended, the transcript notation describing that suspension could keep you from the best jobs.
The situation is so serious that the University at Buffalo gives you every possible advantage in defending yourself.
- Until you were proven Responsible (guilty), you were presumed Not Responsible (innocent).
- You were allowed to view all evidence in the case.
- You were notified well in advance of all meetings and proceedings.
- You were allowed to introduce evidence, call witnesses, and cross-examine witnesses against you.
You've exhausted many of these rights, but you do still have one important one left—the right to appeal. Here's what that process looks like.
First, you must establish grounds for appeal. This isn't like your original hearing, where you made arguments about your innocence. Here, the sole issue is whether or not the university treated you fairly. That means there's really just one question:
Did the university follow appropriate procedures in your case?
Even if it did, you must additionally be able to show that the failure to follow procedure had a significant impact on the case, enough to have potentially altered the outcome.
Coming up with solid grounds for your appeal is only the beginning, though. You must also be able to produce evidence to substantiate your claims. All of this material must be incorporated into a single written document and submitted to the Chief Justice, and you have just five days to put everything together. Once the Chief Justice receives your appeal, they then invite the Complainant in the case (your accuser) to respond.
- You do not have the right to meet with the Chief Justice. Their decisions are based entirely on their reading of the evidence.
- The only acceptable evidence is the record of the hearing. You cannot introduce new evidence, call witnesses, or offer arguments about the Complainant's evidence.
- Winning your appeal does not mean you've been exonerated. Instead, it means you deserve a new hearing. Basically, the case starts all over again.
Do you face an uphill battle? Unquestionably. You can win appeals at the University at Buffalo, though. The fact is that university judicial systems have a lot of holes, and mistakes happen frequently. The University at Buffalo system is better than most. At least it is run by law school students with some understanding of legal procedure. Being judged by a law school student isn't the same as being judged by a judge, though. Couple this with the fact that colleges and universities are generally too quick to accuse students, too zealous in conducting investigations, and too harsh in assigning penalties, and there are a whole host of reasons the University at Buffalo may have treated you unfairly.
How can we help? As a starting point, the Lento Law Firm attorney can work with you to develop your central arguments. We can often find details you may have missed the first time around. We'll sit down with you and go over the hearing record with a fine-toothed comb, looking for possible grounds for your appeal. Ultimately, we'll write your appeal for you, making certain that it's air-tight and presents your evidence in a way that is both clear and compelling.
Fight For Your Future
We won't sugarcoat it: you're in a difficult situation with limited options. You don't have a lot of rights left to you, and you've already been found “Responsible” for an offense. Given those parameters, we can't promise to win your appeal. No one can. Here's what we can promise you, though: no one gives you a better chance of winning your appeal than the Lento 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 to your benefit. If you know you are innocent, if you believe you've been treated unfairly, we can help.
You cannot afford to wait, though. The window for filing your appeal at the University at Buffalo is just five days. That's not a lot of time to build your defense. Contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use our online form.
