How Much Does a Student Defense Lawyer Cost?

These are my fees. Almost everything I do is a flat fee, set in writing before any work begins — more predictable for you than an hourly clock, and no meter running while you decide whether to ask a question. Hourly is available where you prefer it.

Full Read + Game Plan Session $1,000
Second-Opinion Session $1,000
School accommodations assistance from $1,500
Board, licensing & exam accommodations $2,500
Ongoing counsel — on retainer $500+/mo
Representation & advocacy from $5,000
Campus due-process hearings from $10,000
Litigation quoted

Download the one-page overview (PDF) — the practice at a glance: what goes to court, how the Full Read + Game Plan works, and what is handled on campus.

Full Read + Game Plan Session — $1,000

This is not a consultation, and I do not sell one. The Full Read + Game Plan is a substantive working engagement: you send everything — the notice, handbook, emails, evaluations, your accommodation file, the timeline — I confirm the record is complete, and I read all of it. Up to about 100 files or 500 pages; a materially larger record is flagged and quoted before I begin, never after.

Then comes the Game Plan session — in person, by video, or by phone, whichever is most comfortable. It runs as long as it needs to run. There is no time limit — no stopwatch, no set number of minutes, and no second session billed because the first one ran long. It ends when it naturally ends: when your questions are answered and the game plan is formed. You get straight answers on your strongest and weakest points, the deadlines, what the school’s own rules require, and a plain list of what to do next, in what order. I aim for same-day to two-to-three business day turnaround from a complete file, because appeal windows run in days. Seven days of follow-up questions by email are included.

No sales pitch — ever. I will not use the Game Plan session as an opportunity to talk you into a larger engagement, and I will never present a retainer or a representation agreement during the session. My job in that session is to tell you what is actually going on and what to do about it. If you decide you want to discuss going further, you are welcome to raise it and I will answer your questions — but I will only tell you which option I would choose if you ask me to, and even then my advice is to look at all of your options before committing to any of them. The $1,000 is credited toward a larger engagement when a later agreement says so in writing.

For a large share of students this is the entire engagement. Telling you that you do not need a lawyer is a legitimate outcome, and a common one.

Second opinions — evaluating another Game Plan, same $1,000

Already have a lawyer? A second opinion is exactly that: I evaluate the game plan you are already on. Send the record and I measure the strategy against the school’s own policies and federal law — an independent read on the plan, a check on deadlines and issues that are waived if not raised, and specific questions worth putting to your own counsel, useful whether or not you change anything, and a fraction of the cost of switching lawyers mid-matter. I will not, and ethically cannot, try to get you to switch. Your counsel stays in place, and I am just as willing to tell you the matter is being handled correctly, which is often the answer.

Accommodations

A large share of academic dismissals are accommodation failures wearing a different label. Send the accommodation file with everything else and I will tell you whether it is your strongest issue or a distraction. See Section 504 and the ADA and the accommodations index.

School accommodations assistance — from $1,500

I do not build or submit the request for you — you stay the one communicating with your school, and my assistance stays within what your handbook and the rules of professional conduct allow. School accommodations work starts at $1,500 and depends on the school and the issues involved. I review the request as drafted and the documentation behind it, identify what is missing, and prepare you for the disability-office meeting.

You do not have to buy a separate engagement to get help here. A Game Plan session can be used for accommodations too — to review your draft request, look over your documentation, or walk through a single step before you take it — and students can have as many Game Plan sessions as they need, each one a new engagement under its own retainer. The distinction is simple: a Game Plan session is advice and review, so it does not produce written work product filed under my name; the $1,500 engagement is where I take on the drafting-support and preparation role over the course of the matter. If I assisted with a request that is then denied, the school-level appeal is included in that engagement.

Board, licensing & entrance exams — typically $2,500

Testing agencies run their own process — separate request, separate documentation standard, separate deadlines — and a school approval does not carry over. Handled start to finish (strategy, documentation package, personal statement, forms, agency correspondence): typically $2,500; appeal-only, typically $2,000. Covers USMLE and COMLEX, MCAT, LSAT, NCLEX, the bar exam and MPRE, GRE, GMAT, and the rest of the licensing and entrance alphabet — the figure varies with testing history and prior denials, and clinician documentation is a separate cost.

Ongoing counsel — on retainer, $500+ per month

I offer this service. Some clients keep me on retainer for a semester or a year — insurance for the investment you have already made in the degree. I stay familiar with your situation, interpret documents as they arrive, handle the administrative technicalities behind the scenes, and answer questions as they come up, with advocacy where something needs to be said. It suits students with disabilities who receive accommodations especially well, and anyone who would rather have a lawyer quietly reading everything before they sign or reply. Where it lands depends on the situation, the school, and whether the school knows I am involved or I stay behind the scenes.

Representation & advocacy — from $5,000

This typically comes after the Game Plan session, not instead of it — until the record is read, neither of us knows whether it would help, and often it would not. Where it does, this covers the arc of the matter: policy analysis, submissions and appeals, hearing preparation and attendance where permitted, records work, and agency complaints and negotiation outside the school. It is priced to what is actually left in the process, and the $1,000 Game Plan fee is credited toward it. This is scoped representation for the matter in front of us rather than an open-ended, everything-forever retainer, which is why I do not call it “full scope.”

What this actually looks like day to day is calling the school and dealing with the people who decide, advising you before you answer anything, and sending the emails that put a problem in writing while there is still time to fix it. That is the work that moves matters — more reliably than any single document does.

Speaking directly with the school’s counsel — rather than with a dean or a committee — raises the figure. It means the institution has escalated, the stakes are legal, and every communication has to be built for a later record.

Written items within the engagement

Demand or pre-suit letter — $2,500. Offered, and priced honestly. The letter is only as good as the record and the analysis behind it, so the file has to be read and the theory built before a word of it is written — a real time investment, which is what the figure reflects. It is also the item I recommend least often. A demand letter rarely changes an outcome on its own, and a poorly built one does affirmative damage: it shows the school and its counsel exactly what you have, hardens a position you were hoping to move, and commits your theory to writing before the record supports it. When a letter is the right tool, I will say so and write it. More often the same effort spent on calls, submissions, and documented email accomplishes more.

Appeal letters and comparable written submissions — $3,000 to $5,000. Where it lands depends on the school, on what its own policies require an appeal to contain and allow it to consider, and on the time the record and the deadline actually demand. A one-page grievance form on a two-week clock is not a multi-exhibit appeal to a professional program’s dean, and it is not priced as one.

Campus due-process hearings — from $10,000

A contested hearing at a public university is the most specialized thing on this page, and one of the most consequential. The notice and evidence file have to be mastered, testimony and cross-examination prepared, exhibits sequenced, the advisor role used to its full limit, and the record built for appeal — all at once, and all correctly the first time, because there is rarely a second one.

What makes these matters hard is that students usually do not know what rights they actually have going in — what the school must prove, what notice it owed, what the advisor is permitted to do, what has to be preserved for a court to review it later. That is precisely the work. Because of the preparation involved, hearing representation is priced separately, from $10,000, quoted to the case. In the large majority of these matters a parent is the one funding the representation as a third-party payor, which is common and permitted — the student remains the client, and we agree up front on what the family will and will not be told.

Litigation — quoted case by case

A last resort, and a serious one: suing a school is expensive and rarely the fastest route to what a student actually wants, which is to graduate. Almost everything above exists to make litigation unnecessary. Fees paid on the items above can be credited toward it when set out in writing.

Fee structure depends on the case: hourly, a hybrid of a reduced hourly rate plus a contingency, or, for the strongest cases, a contingency. Which is available turns on the claim, the forum, the likely recovery, and whether the statute allows fee-shifting.

One hard truth about litigation against schools is worth stating plainly. Most students do not want money — they want to be reinstated. Schools know this, and they use it: they will drag a matter out for as long as they can, and then, right before a ruling they expect to lose, offer the student a seat back with no money attached. If a lawyer took the case on pure contingency, that outcome can mean the lawyer walks away with nothing unless the reinstatement itself is valued and built into the fee arrangement from the start. That is why the fee structure has to be matched honestly to what your case actually is, and why I will tell you at the outset which structure fits — and whether litigation is the right tool at all.

Filing also requires specific things to be in place: the internal process generally exhausted, deadlines and notice requirements met, and a record that supports the claim. Cases are lost on those points before the merits are reached. Court costs — filing, service, discovery, depositions, experts — are separate from attorney’s fees.

If the fee is the obstacle

Buy the advice, not the representation. The Full Read + Game Plan is a complete product on its own, and for many students it is the entire engagement. You can also come back for another Game Plan session whenever a new step comes up — each one is its own engagement, and students are meant to use them that way.
Say so if timing is the problem. Your deadline changes how I sequence the work — do not let a fee question run your appeal window out.
Someone else can pay. A parent or family member funding the engagement is common and permitted — you remain the client, and nobody who pays directs the representation or sees your confidences without your say.

How to start

Email me at zachary@astudentslawyer.com with a short summary, the dates, and any deadline. You are welcome to call (561) 308-9119 — but before I have documents there is little I can usefully say, and a pre-engagement call is not privileged. I will tell you which item above applies, including when the answer is none of them.
Sign the engagement agreement. One agreement, plain terms: your scope, your fee, and what I am responsible for. Read the sample here — nothing starts before it is signed, and if you prefer a straight hourly arrangement, say so and it is written that way.
Pay, then send everything. The secure payment link comes after signing and conflicts clearing; payment makes the engagement effective (Zelle to (561) 308-9119 also works). Then the Full Read begins, we set the Game Plan session, and your seven days of follow-up start.

Common questions

Why don’t you offer a free consultation?

Because a free consultation does not actually solve your problem — it is a sales call, and I am not trying to sell you anything in a fifteen-minute window. Your matter turns on documents and deadlines, and until someone has read the record there is very little of value to say about it. I speak with clients all the time; I just do not do it in the form of a “consultation.” The Full Read + Game Plan is the opposite of a quick call: I read your entire file first, then we sit down and I tell you exactly what is going on and what to do. That is worth paying for, and for many students it is the only thing they end up needing.

How fast can you look at it?

Same day to two or three business days from a complete file, in most matters. The clock starts when the record is actually complete, which is why I confirm what I have before we schedule.

Can I have more than one Game Plan session?

Yes — as many as you need, and students should use them as they need them. Each session is a new engagement under its own retainer rather than an add-on to the first: a new session means a new set of documents, a new read, and a new fee. That is deliberate, and it is not a reason to hesitate. Students come back for a fresh Game Plan when a new notice arrives, before a meeting, to review a draft accommodation request, or to walk through a single step before taking it — which is exactly what the format is for. Each session is advice and review; it does not produce filed written work product, which is what the larger engagements are for.

Does the Full Read + Game Plan count toward a larger engagement?

Yes, when the later agreement says so in writing. The $1,000 is credited against representation, and fees paid above can be credited toward litigation.

What is not included?

Third-party costs: records and transcript fees, filing and service fees, postage, and evaluations or documentation from your clinicians.

Can my parents pay for this?

Yes — it is very common, and in most of the significant student cases you read about a parent is funding the matter. Schools notice it, too: a represented, well-resourced family changes how carefully an institution handles the file. You remain the client, your informed consent is required, and whoever pays neither directs the representation nor receives your confidential information without your say.

The decision says it is final. Is anything left?

Often, yes. “Final” is the school’s label for the end of its internal process — it does not mean the matter is over, and it does not mean the school and its counsel are done negotiating. Corrected notations, readmission paths, agreed records, and settlements — including paid ones — happen after “final” more often than students expect.

Will you talk to the school for me, or do I stay the one communicating?

It depends on the engagement. In accommodations assistance and behind-the-scenes work, you stay the one communicating and I prepare you. In representation, I can deal with the school and, where it has escalated, with its counsel directly — which is heightened work and priced accordingly. The Game Plan session is where we decide which posture actually serves you.

Terms that apply to every engagement

In writing, first. Scope, fee, and deliverable are confirmed in a signed agreement before any work begins.
The fee does not move once set — but some terms can. Every matter is unique, and within the written agreement certain terms are adjustable to fit it.
Flat fees are earned on engagement under Rule 4-1.5, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar; refunds are determined under those Rules.
Credits apply only when written. A starting fee counts toward a later engagement if the later agreement says so.
Deadlines stay yours unless the agreement expressly puts a specific deadline or filing on me.
No outcome is guaranteed, at any fee. Academic and disciplinary decisions rest with the school in the first instance.

Attorney advertising. This page is general information only — not legal advice and not an offer of representation. The fees shown are my typical fees for the scopes described and may differ on your matter; your scope and fee are set in a signed written agreement. Contacting me does not create an attorney–client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Zachary Gaynor, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 125534, Boca Raton, Florida.