In April of 2024, the Department of Education approved New Title IX rules, which are scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2024. Our firm is closely monitoring ongoing challenges to these new rules in court, and is working hard to provide you the most up-to-date information. Click here to learn about the current state of Title IX and how we can help if you are facing accusations.
If you're a student at a college or university in West Virginia and you're facing a Title IX hearing, it's critical to take necessary steps, won't advance the Title IX hearing itself. At a point in time during the course of the Title IX case, your school will present an investigation report. Prior to it being finalized, it needs to be responded to as strongly and as effectively as possible. All relevant information documentation and evidence needs to be included in the final report and at an absolute minimum relevant text messages, social media posts, pictures, videos, phone logs, witness statements, a forensic evaluation, a polygraph examination, a toxicology report, if consent is an issue.
Everything needs to be done to make the report as strong as possible because once finalized, it's presented to the hearing panel. The panel reviews it in advance of the hearing and has a strong sense of the case before the hearing even takes place. Continuing to attack the accuser's credibility is key. Questions have to be prepared with that in mind to be asked at the hearing itself for the accuser and the accuser's witnesses, an opening and closing statement has to be prepared for the accused. The hearing panel itself has to be considered for potential bias and conflict. An experienced attorney advisor can help throughout a Title IX case, and especially at a Title IX hearing.
