Business Undergraduate Prevails in Misconduct Defense Using Documentary Evidence
An undergraduate business program at an online university charged a second-year student with academic misconduct. The charges alleged that the student had participated in a study scam using Chegg's online subscription service to obtain assignment answers and exam answers. The program based the charges on the instructor's determination that the student's answers copied or paraphrased model answers available through the subscription service, in violation of the instructor's course policy clearly stated in the course syllabus. The student retained the Lento Law Firm to contest the charges. The law firm documented that the student had no Chegg subscription account and had the student attest that the student had not used another student's Chegg account. The law firm further documented that the student had done his own work to arrive at the assignment answers and exam answers, showing the development of those answers on scratch paper and assignment drafts. The program's disciplinary investigator accepted the documentation as the basis on which to dismiss the charges. The student was left with a clear record of no discipline. The key to success was comprehensive documentation of facts for which the student was unaware that documentation was significant and may well have existed.
Medical School Resident Wins Residency Reinstatement and Renewal Using Hours Documentation
The on-site director of a medical residency program at a busy urban hospital lodged non-performance and patient neglect charges against a medical resident. The director based the charges on the director's mistaken belief that the resident had missed and ignored assignments and rounds, as support staff complained to the director. The director rejected the resident's initial explanation that the resident's supervising physicians had several times taken the resident along for supplemental residency training and clinical observations on the assurance that the supervisors had arranged other coverage. The resident retained the Lento Law Firm when the resident found the supervisors reluctant to correct the director. The law firm helped the resident quietly gather third-party documentation of the resident's supplemental training, including attendance logs and medical records noting the resident's presence. That documentation and the law firm's diplomatic efforts gradually influenced the resident's supervisors to give written statements supporting the resident's explanation. The director relented in the charges after the law firm helped the resident diplomatically present the documentation correcting the director's misimpression. The director later apologized after support staff acknowledged that they were unaware that the resident was away on other duties at the supervisor's direction. The director also renewed the resident for the second year of residency. The key to success was the law firm's ability to help the resident identify, collect, and present convincing documentation.
Public Health Graduate Student Reverses SAP Dismissal with Course Completion Documentation
A graduate program in public health dismissed a student for failing to meet satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements after the student's transcript showed multiple incomplete courses. The student had, in fact, faced significant challenges completing courses across two terms in which the student had a serious illness, had extra work obligations, and also faced separation and divorce issues. The student maintained, though, that the student had his instructors' assurances that he could make up the course incompletes. The student further maintained that he had timely completed and submitted coursework in meeting instructor and program requirements. When the student was unable to convince the registrar's office of his satisfactory academic performance, the student retained the Lento Law Firm to pursue his SAP appeal. The law firm promptly collected, analyzed, organized, and summarized the student's documentation, requesting supplemental documentation where needed. The law firm then submitted the SAP appeal according to school procedures. The law firm also helped the student communicate appropriately with the involved instructors to the point that the student received written support for removing the course incompletes. The school granted the SAP appeal after the registrar's office accepted the documentation and written support and removed the incomplete grades in favor of the passing grades the student earned. The key to success was the law firm's meticulous documentation showing that the student qualified for removing the course incomplete grades in favor of the passing grade earned.
Undergraduate Nursing Student Gains Needed Disability Accommodations on Additional Medical Documentation
A nursing program at a large Central States public university refused to provide an undergraduate student with accommodations for her learning disability. Without the accommodations, the student withdrew from two courses and reduced her course load when registering for courses for the following term. The student did not believe that she could pass those courses with adequate grades without the accommodations. Her request included note-taking support in class and reader and answer documentation assistance during exams. The program's accommodations officer had denied the student's requests for lack of documentation, although the student had supplied her educational psychologist's letter and recommendations. When the student realized that the delay in her education would compromise her ability to complete the program, the student retained the Lento Law Firm. The law firm first analyzed the student's disabilities documentation in light of her accommodations requests. The law firm then helped the student communicate with her educational psychologist and receive additional testing for supplements to his report addressing potential gaps in his recommendations. The law firm then helped the student invoke the program's disability accommodations appeal procedures, supplying the supplemental report and documentation. The appeals panel granted the appeal and offered each of the requested accommodations. The student accepted the offer and enrolled in a full load of courses the following term. The key to success was the law firm's ability to discern the additional testing and documentation that the school required to grant the requested accommodations.
Undergraduate Prevails in Title IX Misconduct Case Based on Electronic Documentation
An education program at a large West Coast public university charged an undergraduate student with Title IX sexual misconduct after another student accused him of inappropriate sexual advances and touching in a university dormitory room. When an informal resolution conference suggested to the student that the disciplinary officials had already made up their minds that he was responsible and should be dismissed before even having heard his side of the story, the student retained the Lento Law Firm to invoke formal hearing procedures. The law firm procured from the student copies of all the texts, emails, and similar electronic communications and posts between and relating to the two involved students. The law firm then prepared a timeline showing how the two involved students had developed and pursued a romantic relationship over time. The law firm then helped the student share the timeline and documentation in materials submitted in advance of the hearing. The complaining witness refused to attend the hearing after the accused student's thorough and well-documented submission. Having no reliable evidence before it other than the accused student's testimony and documentation, the hearing panel found no misconduct and dismissed all charges. The law firm then arranged for the student's university record to reflect no record of the unsupported allegations or charges. The key to the student's success was the law firm's ability to procure, organize, analyze, summarize, and present documentation of the consensual relationship between the two involved students.
Dental Student Turns Back Allegations of Intoxication Based on Medical Documentation
The clinical director of a dental program at a prominent East Coast public university accused a third-year student of performing clinical duties on live patients while under the influence of intoxicants. The allegations arose out of rumors among students and reports from clinic staff that the student, on several occasions spanning two weeks, had been present in the clinic performing procedures while slurring words, appearing drowsy, and having glassy eyes suggestive of intoxication. The reports included that the student's demeanor looked disheveled and that the student may have smelled of alcohol or medication. The student promptly contacted the Lento Law Firm, disclosing that he in fact, was under a strict regimen of psychoactive medication for mental and emotional conditions that the student had not disclosed to anyone associated with the dental program. The student further disclosed to the firm that the student's treating psychiatrist had adjusted the student's medication while indicating that the adjustment could briefly cause alterations in the student's usual presentation. The student was reluctant to make that disclosure, fearing misunderstanding, social isolation, and retaliation. The law firm helped the student document the medical condition, including the change in medication, along with the psychiatrist's confirming report. The law firm then presented that information to the program's disability accommodations officer for guidance on how to keep the disclosure as confidential as possible. The accommodations officer negotiated a dismissal of the charges based on private communications with the clinical director. The student's condition remained confidential, and the program permitted the student to resume the program without discipline. The key to success was the law firm's documentation of the medical condition affecting appearance without affecting performance.
