A Title IX notice naming you as a respondent. A nonrenewal, a retrenchment, or a tenure denial. A graduate assistantship that ends the week after you reported your advisor. Higher education runs on its own rules, written in faculty handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, and federal regulations, and the firm has been inside those rules as advisor, investigator, hearing officer, and litigator.
Faculty and staff are covered by Title IX, not only students, and their employment rights run alongside it. An employee can be a Title IX complainant or respondent and is protected from retaliation for reporting or participating. Tenure, nonrenewal, and retrenchment are governed by the faculty handbook, institutional policy, and any bargaining agreement, and faculty at public universities also have constitutional due process rights before removal. Sean H. Sobel advises faculty, staff, and graduate employees at institutions nationwide on Title IX matters and Ohio faculty and staff on employment matters, on a flat fee quoted in writing before any work begins.
Most university matters arrive as one document: a notice of allegations, a nonrenewal letter, a retrenchment memo, a letter ending an assistantship. The first job is to find the rule the document was written under and the deadline it started. The second is to answer it in writing in a way that holds up in front of the hearing panel, the provost, or the court that sees it next.
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funds, and that protection runs to employees as well as students. Faculty and staff can file complaints, can be named as respondents, and are protected against retaliation for reporting or participating. The stakes for an employee are usually higher than for a student, because a finding reaches tenure, the contract, professional licensure, and the next job. Employee matters also sit on top of employment law: a respondent faculty member may be placed on administrative leave under one policy, investigated under another, and disciplined under a third, with a bargaining agreement running through all of it.
The advisor role matters more for employees than anyone. Most faculty colleagues are mandatory reporters, have no training in the process, and work for the institution deciding your case. The firm serves as advisor for faculty, staff, and graduate employees at institutions nationwide, and because the proceedings are almost always virtual, location is not a barrier. Defense for respondents and advising for complainants describe the two roles; Title IX cases against faculty explains what is different when the respondent teaches.
Faculty employment in Ohio is governed by the faculty handbook, institutional policy, and any collective bargaining agreement, not by the K-12 statutes that protect public school teachers. Tenure can usually be overcome only by a properly declared financial exigency or a program discontinuance, each with its own procedural requirements, and a retrenchment that skips those steps or targets one person can be challenged. Nonrenewal of a probationary faculty member turns on the notice the handbook promises and on whether the real reason is one the law forbids: sex, race, age, disability, a protected complaint, or protected speech.
Faculty and staff at public universities have a second layer. An employee with a property interest in continued employment, which includes tenured faculty and many staff under contract or civil service rules, is entitled to notice of the charges, an explanation of the evidence, and an opportunity to respond before removal. The Loudermill guide explains that hearing, and First Amendment retaliation covers the speech cases that arise when a professor or staff member speaks publicly on a matter of concern. Faculty retrenchment in Ohio covers exigency and program discontinuance in detail.
Graduate assistants, postdocs, and research staff sit in two categories at once: students and employees. The faculty advisor relationship creates power and retaliation dynamics undergraduates do not face, and an assistantship, funding, a visa, and a career reference can all turn on one person's goodwill. When a graduate employee reports an advisor and the assistantship ends, the retaliation analysis runs under Title IX, Title VII, and the institution's own policies at the same time. Title IX for graduate students explains what changes when the student is also an employee.
Advisor representation from the notice of allegations through the appeal, for faculty, staff, coaches, and graduate employees at institutions in any state, on a flat fee quoted before work begins.
The written response and internal appeal under the handbook or bargaining agreement, the grievance where a union contract applies, and the discrimination or retaliation claim where the stated reason does not survive the record.
Administrative leave, internal investigations, and discipline of faculty and staff, including the due process owed by public universities and the response to an investigator's questions.
Title IX retaliation, Title VII retaliation, First Amendment retaliation at public institutions, and the Ohio whistleblower statute, with the timeline of report and adverse action as the center of the case.
Faculty and administrator contracts, separation agreements, and the terms that matter in higher education: the characterization of the departure, references, the status of pending proceedings, and confidentiality. Severance review and executive employment cover the flat-fee options for deans, chairs, and senior administrators.
Title IX advisor work and advisory work on a nonrenewal, retrenchment, or discipline matter are flat fees quoted in writing before any work begins, for a scope defined at the same time. Where the facts support a claim against the institution, a contingency or hybrid engagement is offered instead, and the advisory fee is credited toward it. Title IX matters are handled at institutions nationwide; employment matters are handled for Ohio faculty and staff and for employees of Ohio institutions.
The firm checks for conflicts before opening any matter, including whether it has served the institution as investigator or hearing officer. That is why the first thing the firm needs is the name of the institution, not the documents. Sean Sobel handles every matter personally.
Name the institution, what has happened, and any deadline in the notice. You will get a written reply after a conflict check that says what the engagement would cover and the flat fee for that scope before anything is billed.
Do not attach or send the notice or any investigation materials yet. After a conflict check, usually the same day, you will get a written reply that says how to send them and what the engagement would cover. Submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Every matter is different. Descriptions of typical timing, fees, and outcomes are general and do not guarantee any particular result in your case.
Both. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance, and the protection runs to employees. Faculty, staff, administrators, coaches, and graduate employees can file complaints, can be named as respondents, and are protected against retaliation for reporting or participating. An employee respondent is also subject to the institution's employment and discipline policies, which run alongside the Title IX process.
Yes. The institution must allow each party an advisor of their choice, and the advisor may be an attorney. The advisor reviews the evidence, helps prepare the written responses, attends interviews and the hearing, and, where the rules provide for it, conducts cross-examination. Choosing a faculty colleague instead usually means choosing a mandatory reporter with no training who works for the institution deciding your case.
It depends on your status and on the handbook or bargaining agreement. A probationary faculty member is usually entitled to the notice the handbook promises and little more, unless the real reason is discriminatory or retaliatory. A tenured faculty member can generally be removed only for cause or under a properly declared financial exigency or program discontinuance, each with procedural steps. At a public university, an employee with a property interest in the position is also entitled to constitutional due process, meaning notice of the charges, an explanation of the evidence, and a chance to respond before removal.
That sequence is the retaliation case. Graduate employees are protected from retaliation under Title IX and, as employees, under Title VII and the institution's own policies. Write down the dates of the report and of every change that followed, including funding, teaching assignments, references, and access, and raise the retaliation in writing through the Title IX office or the grievance process the policy provides while the deadlines are still open.
Title IX matters, yes, at institutions nationwide; the proceedings are almost always virtual and the regulations are federal. Employment matters such as nonrenewal, retrenchment, and discipline are handled for Ohio faculty and staff and for employees of Ohio institutions, and the firm checks for conflicts, including prior service to the institution as an investigator or hearing officer, before opening any matter.
Name the institution and the deadline. The first reply is in writing, after a conflict check.
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