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, scoped to one or two discrete issues. Up to about 100 files or 500 pages; a materially larger record is flagged and quoted before I begin, never after.

Not a summary of the file; the file. Most students have never had anyone actually read their whole record — the school certainly hasn’t — and cases turn on what is sitting in it: the procedural step the school skipped, the sentence in the handbook that contradicts what it did, the email that fixes the timeline.

Then comes the Game Plan session — in person, by video, or by phone, whichever is most comfortable, and it is not just answering questions: we come up with the plan together, going through the situations you are facing, what the school’s own rules require it to do, your strongest and weakest points, the deadlines and which document each clock runs from, the realistic outcomes, and exactly what to do next, in what order. 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. I aim to finish by the end of the week your complete file arrives, because appeal windows run in days. Seven days of follow-up questions by email are included.

What you walk away with is a plan you can execute yourself if you choose to: what to write, what not to write, who to send it to, and by when. Many students handle the next steps on their own from there — the plan is built so that you can.

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 you sign within two months of the Session — your agreement states the credit 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.

Enough on its own, or the first step toward representation?

For most students, the Game Plan is the whole engagement. You leave with the strategy and you carry it out yourself. It is a complete product, not a teaser for something bigger, and I built it that way on purpose.

One thing the Game Plan is not: fast. The session is scheduled, and scheduling takes time a close deadline may not allow. It is the budget option by design — $1,000, the whole record read, a plan you can execute yourself. If something is due in days, start with representation, which begins as soon as the agreement is signed, or call about the deadline.

Working quietly is a tactic, not a virtue. It suits some matters and it costs you ground in others. Where a school is already treating the matter as adversarial, what matters is having counsel openly in it — someone whose name is on the correspondence, who holds the institution to the procedure it published, who deals with its administrators and its lawyers directly, and who builds the record while the process is still running rather than after it has closed. That is work a student cannot do for themselves from inside the process, and it is not a weakness to need it.

Representation is the right next step when the situation outgrows self-help: a hearing gets scheduled, the school stops responding or hands the file to its lawyers, deadlines start stacking on top of each other, or the stakes — licensure, a professional program, a visa — leave no room for error. When that is where you are, the Full Read flows directly into Representation & Advocacy: the plan we built becomes the roadmap for the case, representation is priced by stage, and the $1,000 you paid here is credited toward it if you sign within two months of the Session.

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.

Common questions

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 agreement 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.

How fast can you look at it?

I aim to finish by the end of the week your complete file arrives. The clock starts when the record is actually complete, which is why I confirm what I have before we schedule.

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

Yes, when you sign within two months of the Session — your agreement states the credit in writing. The $1,000 is credited against representation, and fees paid on pre-litigation items can be credited toward litigation.

Ready to start? See all fees at a glance or the three steps under “How to start” there — email zachary@astudentslawyer.com with a short summary, the dates, and any deadline.

Last reviewed September 2026, and reviewed at least annually. These figures are current and are honored as stated for at least ninety days from the date they are published here. Third-party costs — records and transcript fees, filing and service fees, postage, and evaluations or documentation from your own clinicians — are separate.

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.