We provide a high-quality advisory service for students who are accused of sexual misconduct and are of modest financial means. We can do this as non-attorneys both because of our experience in these matters and because Title IX regulations provide that students in school Title IX grievance procedures may be assisted by “the advisor of their choice, who may be, but is not required to be, an attorney.” Many schools now have similar policy provisions for “non-Title IX” student sexual misconduct cases.

While we have helped many and wish we could help many more, our advisory service is not the best fit for everyone. In some cases, we would be doing a genuine disservice if we tried to help, so we regularly refer those in need to attorneys and firms with a proven track record and who are a better fit. These groups usually include some of the following:

Non-student faculty and staff tend to have more complex needs that attorneys are better suited to assist with. Non-attorneys cannot advise clients on employment rights; they can only advise inside the bubble of a school’s Title IX grievance procedure. Even if a school’s inquiry into an incident begins as a Title IX matter, HR or employment rights issues almost always spring up, and sometimes with little or no warning.

While it is technically possible for a non-attorney advisor to assist a client in the school’s internal Title IX matter while an attorney assists the same client with employment rights matters, this is not always practical. We recommend that non-student faculty and staff who are participants in a Title IX grievance proceeding be advised by an attorney specializing in both employment rights and Title IX.

One of the primary benefits of a non-attorney advisor is that they are relatively more affordable. If you have the financial means to hire an attorney over a non-attorney to serve as your Title IX advisor, you should. The demographics that best fit this category are families in the top 20% of household incomes, or $175,000 or higher based on national averages. An attorney will be able to advise on and assist with issues related to but technically outside the school’s sexual misconduct process. These include potential litigation, interactions with law enforcement, private settlement agreements, and so forth. Just make sure you hire an attorney that specializes in the practice areas you need.

Our advisory service assists within the bubble of the school’s sexual misconduct process. We tend to do very well within that bubble. But once that process has been concluded (normally at the end of the appeal window), there is very little—if anything—that we can do. There are professionals who specialize in helping students complete their education despite a history of misconduct issues. There is an art and a science to it, but it is not our specialty. We will gladly refer students with this need to professionals who can help.

This is a request we occasionally get. Regrettably, we cannot provide it at this time. Because we commit every reasonable effort to assisting our clients, providing quality assistance in the average case takes ~70 hours from start to finish (though some cases skew much shorter or longer depending on the facts and circumstances). Assisting students pro bono with the same quality of service is financially impossible without outside funding, and the laws governing such outside funding tend to be complex and prohibitive, especially on a nationwide scale.

The focus of this post is independent, professional Title IX advisors who are either attorneys or non-attorneys. Be aware that if you are a party in a school Title IX grievance proceeding, the school must provide you with an advisor during any hearings for the purposes of cross-examination, though the quality of these advisors is not guaranteed. A few schools do offer advisors for other parts of the case, but they come with limitations. For more, read our post on school-appointed advisors versus independent professional advisors.