WHAT YOU SHOULD DO…
The legal landscape regarding campus sexual assault has always been tricky and it’s being completely upended by the new Title IX regulations just released by the DeVos Department of Education. Whether your school is contending with an existing situation or you want to get out ahead of the issue, we may be able to help.
We offer:
- Training for your staff on how to handle the new requirements of Title IX such as cross-examination during hearings.
- Internal investigations of complex matters involving individual students, faculty & staff, and student organizations such as fraternities, sororities and sports teams.
We understand the myriad of questions you’re facing: who is – and who should be – considered a mandatory reporter? How are schools meeting the challenge of funding their response to the new attention being given to sexual assault on campus? What is the school’s liability for action or inaction? What is best practice in handling allegations of sexual assault on campus?
Contact us nowTRAINING
Our team of consultants and trainers bring decades of experience as police officers, criminal investigators, federal prosecutors, and judges in the investigation and adjudication of sexual assault cases throughout the country, many involving college students either on campus or in school-related settings.
Our training provides college and university administrators the information they need to develop a clear, comprehensive, sustainable, best-practice-based program for handling campus sexual assault claims. The comprehensive curriculum addresses, for example: cross-examination of parties by advisors, the investigative process, evidence, interviewing, standards of proof, panel hearing management, how and when to work with local law enforcement, and post-adjudication actions.
INVESTIGATIONS
Our experienced team has handled complex investigations ranging from criminal investigations to institutional internal investigations. Specifically, we conduct investigations of high-profile or complex sexual assault allegations on an as-needed basis for or on a retained basis to address all of the institution’s sexual assault investigation activities throughout the year.
With decades of experience at managing sexual assault investigations that involve multiple police agencies, we enhance and improve the resources of your existing campus police systems while at the same time facilitating any needed coordination with local and federal law enforcement agencies.
COUNSEL FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS
If your school is under federal investigation we can shepherd you through the investigation. Federal investigations typically will require production of paper and electronic records as well as interviews with your staff involved in campus sexual assault response. Our lawyers have years of experience both conducting and defending investigations. We will guide you through making organized productions of documents as well as how to prepare your staff to give accurate and helpful interviews and statements to investigators.
Counseling clients through federal investigations requires a thorough understanding of the perspectives of the investigators and how to diplomatically manage often burdensome requests. Our lawyers’ experience at the highest levels of government includes experience with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Office of the Independent Counsel, and Office of the Attorney General. We understand how the government thinks and investigates and will put that knowledge to work for your school.
WHO WE ARE
Our campus sexual assault consulting practice is led by Shanlon Wu and Julie Grohovsky. Shan and Julie are former federal prosecutors who specialized in sexual assault investigations. As Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the District of Columbia, both received specialized training in the interviewing of child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse and worked with the District of Columbia Child Advocacy Center. As a trial team, they secured the first life-without-parole sentence for a serial rapist in the District of Columbia and implemented the use of jury questionnaires in sexual assault trials.
Julie is also the former Director of Training for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia – the largest federal prosecutor’s office in the country. An Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy recipient, Julie studied the prosecution of sexual assault case in the UK and has served the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General, the Advisory Board of the Tree House – Montgomery County Maryland’s Child Assessment Center which works to support child victims of sexual and/or physical abuse, and has consulted on the National Institute of Corrections Project on Addressing Prison Rape. She has taught as an adjunct professor at the American University and lectured in the UK and US on sexual assault investigations.
Shan is also former counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno and advised her on criminal investigations and oversaw liaison to the FBI, DEA and White House Counsel’s Office. He pioneered the use of pioneered the use of expert testimony and jury questionnaires in domestic violence cases and investigated and tried both serial rapist cases and cases involving the exploitation of minors. In spring 2015, he will teach a course on college student disciplinary systems at the George Washington University. He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post on college student legal matters.
