Welcome to the fall edition of the Title IX Insider. With the anticipated release of the Title IX Final Rule, the industry is bracing for drastic changes to how Title IX investigations and hearings will be conducted across the nation.

Welcome to the Winter edition of the Title IX Insider, a periodic newsletter designed to keep students, teachers and faculty, administrators, and educational institutions at both the K-12 level, and at institutions of higher education informed about important updates in the law related to Title IX and college discipline matters.

Members of our Title IX and College Discipline Practice team presented, "How to Win at Trial" as part of a full-day CLE for Title IX lawyers in Washington D.C. held at DLA Piper on November 11.

On September 15, 2022, Warshaw Burstein attorneys Kimberly C. Lau, James E. Figliozzi, and Branden Lynn presented a live webinar to discuss how key proposed changes to the Title IX regulations may impact Title IX in both the classroom and the courtroom. 

Comment Submitted by: Kimberly C. Lau, Esq., James E. Figliozzi, Esq. and Branden Lynn, Esq

The current administration released their Title IX Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NPRM”) on June 23, 2022. This NPRM was released to provide the public with an opportunity to comment before the official rules are issued to replace the current 2020 regulations. As of now the 2020 regulations are still in effect.

Kimberly C. Lau, partner and chair of the firm’s Title IX and College Discipline Practice, and her team obtained a unanimous jury verdict on their client’s, Andrew Pampu, defamation and civil conspiracy claims against defendants resulting in an award of $5.3mm following a week-long jury trial in South Carolina.

Kimberly C. Lau, partner and head of the firm’s Title IX/College Discipline practice with the assistance of counsel, James Figliozzi, won a Motion to Dismiss and recently achieved a successful settlement for her client in a high-profile Title IX case with Columbia University.

On September 29, at noon ET, Kimberly C. Lau, James Figliozzi, and Branden Lynn of the firm’s Title IX and College Disciplinary Matters practice, will present a New York State Bar Association webinar titled, “A New Era For Title IX: An Overview Of The Department Of Education’s New Regulations.”

In an Expert Opinion column in the New York Law Journal titled, "New Regulations Demand Due Process for Campus Sexual Misconduct Cases" written by members of the Warshaw Burstein Title IX/College Discipline Group: Kimberly C. Lau, Litigation Partner and Chair, James Figliozzi, Counsel and Branden Lynn, Associate, the authors review top-line changes in the new Title IX regulations, the renewed focus on due process, and also address the regulations' likely successes and shortcomings ahead of their implementation on August 14, 2020.

As schools across the country trade in-person instruction for online curriculums, the fate of countless student disciplinary proceedings hangs in the balance. Schools now find themselves in the unenviable position of moving their investigations and hearings online.