Patricia Hamill and Lorie Dakessian, Co-Chairs of the Title IX, Due Process and Campus Discipline practice, co-authored the “Practice Guide for Title IX Practitioners: Ensuring effective live hearings and direct cross-examination in Title IX disciplinary proceedings in the wake of the Cardona decision.”
Our Guide makes clear that live hearings and direct cross-examination in Title IX disciplinary proceedings are the law!
Patricia Hamill, Co-Chair of the Title IX and Campus Discipline Practice
In this Practice Guide, we provide background on the live hearing and direct cross-examination requirements in Title IX disciplinary hearings as well as background on a decision vacating a single provision of the Department of Education’s 2020 comprehensive Title IX regulations: the provision that requires exclusion of statements when an individual does not submit to cross-examination. Our Guide provides considerations for practitioners as they strive to ensure that schools, in the wake of that decision, do not undermine the still-binding live hearing and direct cross-examination requirements, thereby depriving respondents of their right to defend themselves.
While we firmly believe that both parties in Title IX proceedings should be treated fairly, our Practice Guide focuses on fundamental principles of American jurisprudence, including the fact that those who are accused of serious wrongdoing have a right to defend themselves. This includes a right to know and test all of the evidence; findings of wrongdoing should be based only on credible and reliable evidence.
Click here to view a digital copy of the Practice Guide.