One of the positive aspects of practicing in the era of COVID is that we were able to solve new problems for people affected by COVID in unusual ways. One morning we received a phone call from a father who was extremely upset that his daughter had been expelled from a major university due to her alleged violation of quarantine during the peak of COVID. He had already researched our firm online and knew that we had expertise in these matters. We quickly reviewed the facts and there was time for an appeal, but it all had to be done in less than a week.
As soon as we assured them that we approach education law matters just like we do a criminal case – with the same methodology, research and vigor – they immediately retained our firm and we re-arranged our schedule to accommodate the tight timeframe. There was a lot of communication with the student about the timeline of events and the particulars, but we drafted a compelling appeal and sent it in time for the university’s process. Then, the hard part was to wait for an answer. Being criminal law attorneys, we would rather argue in person and have an immediate conclusion, but there was no in person hearing available with the university during COVID. Several days later we received a very elated phone call from the family because our appeal was successful.
While no one likes to pay a legal fee, the family was gushing with appreciation and glad they chose to pay a few thousand dollars to save their daughter’s $175,000 academic career.