Visit our full Title IX Defense website.
Our campus disciplinary practice is nationwide. We’ve represented students at more than 100 schools across the country, from Maine to California, Georgia to Alaska, and many places in between.
If you are a student who has been accused of sexually assaulting another student, please get help quickly.
Please also download our Guide to Defending Yourself in a Campus Sexual Assault Case.
Too often students who are accused of serious misconduct in a student disciplinary proceeding keep silent, assuming that if they just tell their version of what happened, everything will work out fine.
This is a mistake.
We have represented students in school disciplinary proceedings who have been accused of sexual assault. It is impressive how many resources a university can bring to investigate and discipline its own students.
THE SCHOOL’S INTEREST
The school’s interest is not in being fair. The school is not trying to make sure that the truth comes out. Rather, the school is trying to make sure it protects itself.
The United States Department of Education has told schools that it takes allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault very seriously. The Department of Education can cut all federal funding to a school – money for federal student loans and money for faculty research – if the school handles a rape complaint in a way that the Department of Education doesn’t like.
If a student complains about rape on campus and the school doesn’t handle the situation aggressively, the school can be sued, and the Department of Education can start a lengthy, and expensive, investigation of the school.
YOUR FUTURE
If the school decides that you sexually assaulted another student, that can follow you for the rest of your life.
A school can expel you or suspend you if you are found guilty of rape on campus. They can ruin your future without ever calling the police.
Perhaps worse, the school can put a mark on your transcript. If it does, every school you apply to in the future will see that you were found guilty of sexual assault. Very few schools will accept a student with that mark on his transcript. If you want to transfer, if you want to go to law school or graduate school, you will have a much harder time.
A campus disciplinary hearing can quickly dim a bright future.
A UNIVERSITY DISCIPLINARY HEARING
In a university disciplinary proceeding, you don’t have the same rights as in a courtroom:
- You aren’t presumed innocent.
- You don’t get to ask questions of the person who is accusing you.
- It’s your word against the other student’s, and they only have to believe her a little bit more.
- They may not have to tell you what evidence they have against you.
- You can be found guilty if they just think her version is more likely than yours.
- You may not have the right to appeal.
- Your judges may be biased against you.
INVESTIGATION IS KEY
In many cases of campus sexual assault, a diligent investigation by the student who has been accused needs to happen as quickly as possible. Promptly starting an investigation can be the best way to bring out the truth, and to clear your name.
Immediately, every email, text message, or other communication that is relevant to the accusation against you needs to be found and saved. A trained investigator needs to talk to each person who could be a witness to what happened – and what happened before what happened. The truth is only on your side if you preserve it and find it quickly.
THE LAW IS COMPLEX
University disciplinary hearings are complex legal proceedings. The rules vary by each school and are set out in your student handbook. Many courts have held that this student handbook is a contract between you and the school – the school has to follow its own rules when it tries to discipline you.
The Department of Education makes rules that schools have to follow when someone on campus says that they have been sexually assaulted or raped. Campus rape allegations can trigger a strong reaction from the Department of Education.
OUR EXPERIENCE
We have successfully represented students who have been accused of sexual assault on campus. By diligently investigating the facts and navigating the University procedures, you can take dramatic steps to protect your future and your good name. Our founding attorney, Matt Kaiser, has taught other lawyers how to help students who are accused of sexual assault on campus.
If you have been accused of sexual assault on campus, you may also want to see some of the advocacy organizations that are doing work in this area.
Justin Dillon Publishes Op-Ed in the Washington Examiner: Biden’s Title IX changes would roll back fairness and due process on campus
July 5, 2022Justin Dillon Interviewed by Doug McKelway at The Washington Examiner: The Future of Title IX: A Conversation with Justin Dillon
June 15, 2021Justin Dillon Coauthors Opinion for USA Today: Ending due process: Reinstating Catherine Lhamon at the Dept. of Education is a mistake
June 14, 2021Justin Dillon Coauthors Opinion for the National Review: Why Does Joe Biden Hate Due Process?
March 25, 2021Justin Dillon Quoted in New York Times: DeVos’s Rules Bolster Rights of Students Accused of Sexual Misconduct
May 6, 2020Justin Dillon Coauthors Opinion for the National Review: Coronavirus Is No Excuse to Delay the Education Department’s New Title IX Regulations
March 30, 2020Justin Dillon Publishes Opinion for The Chronicle of Higher Education: New Title IX Proposal Would Restore Fairness in Sexual-Misconduct Cases
November 19, 2019Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon in The Washington Post: The Education Department wants to make campus sexual misconduct hearings fairer. It should go further.
September 6, 2018Justin Dillon Opinion Piece in The Washington Post – “The Common App will no longer require disclosure of criminal history. But what it still asks is more troubling.”
August 23, 2018Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Op-Ed for The Washington Post: Lawyers: DeVos is bringing due process to campus sexual assault cases
September 11, 2017Justin Dillon Publishes Opinion for Above The Law: Everything You Think You Know About Campus Sexual Assault Is Wrong: A Review Of ‘The Campus Rape Frenzy’
March 23, 2017Justin Dillon Coauthors Op-Ed for The Harvard Crimson: The Hidden Perils of Affirmative Consent Policies
March 22, 2017Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Op-Ed: Minnesota’s Failed Football Boycott Was a Blow to Fairness in Campus Sexual Assault Hearings
December 20, 2016Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Op-Ed in Los Angeles Times: Absurdity Reigns in Campus Sexual Assault Trials.
April 21, 2016Justin Dillon Publishes Op-Ed on Lawnews.com: Why We Are Suing the Government on Behalf of Students Accused of Sexual Misconduct
April 13, 2016Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon Publish an Editorial in the Los Angeles Times: How to Punish Campus Sexual Assault
November 14, 2015Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon Publish Editorial in LA Times: Why It’s Unfair for Colleges to Use Outside Investigators in Rape Cases.
September 16, 2015Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon Publish Op-ed in The Weekly Standard: The Campus Sex Scene: How Congress Can Make It Worse
August 6, 2015Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Op-Ed in San Diego Union-Tribune: California Bill Won’t Solve Sexual Assault Problem on Campus
September 3, 2014Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Op-Ed in Boston Herald: College Courts Flunks Fairness Test
August 16, 2014Matt Kaiser Publishes an Article for Time Magazine: Some Rules about Consent are “Unfair” to Male Students”
May 15, 2014Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon Publish an Editorial in the Wall Street Journal: The White House Flunks a Test on Sexual Assault
May 5, 2014Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser Publish Opinion for The Wall Street Journal: The White House Flunks a Test on Sexual Assault
May 5, 2014Matt Kaiser and Justin Dillon Publish a Letter to the Editor in the New York Times: The Rights of the Accused
April 28, 2014
