Florida A&M University College of Law Student Defense Lawyer

How do conduct and integrity cases work at FAMU College of Law?

The College of Law is in Orlando, several hundred miles from the university’s Tallahassee campus, and that separation causes a good deal of confusion about which rules apply. The answer is clear once located: the College of Law has no separate honor code. It adopts as its Honor Code the University’s Code of Conduct, under FAMU Regulations 2.012 and 2.013.

That is a genuinely useful fact. A law student facing an integrity allegation here is entitled to the protections of a university-wide code written for the whole student body, and cannot be held to a stricter law-school-specific standard that does not exist. Where an administrator refers to a College of Law honor code, the first question is which document is actually being applied.

FAMU is a public state university and therefore a state actor, so constitutional due process attaches, and Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) applies in full: subsection (3)(g) supplies an advisor, advocate, or legal representative who may participate directly in all aspects of the proceeding including questioning witnesses; (3)(a) requires seven business days’ notice and five business days’ disclosure including exculpatory material; (3)(h) gives an appeal of right.

Burden, standard, and the two clocks

The 2025-26 Student Handbook is unusually explicit about where the burden sits: “the burden of proof in all conduct hearings shall be on the University and is not on the charged student,” and a “preponderance of information” is the standard in all conduct hearings. Both halves of that sentence are worth quoting back. Students routinely arrive at these hearings believing they must prove innocence, and the handbook says the opposite.

Two deadlines follow, both in business days. An appeal must be filed in writing within ten business days of the date of the decision, to the Dean of Students or designated senior administrator. A written decision is to issue within fourteen business days following the hearing. At the conclusion of the appeals process the decision is final, which starts the thirty day certiorari clock to the circuit court under Fla. R. App. P. 9.100(c) — and because Fla. Stat. section 120.81(1)(g) removes the DOAH machinery from student proceedings, nothing tolls it.

The fourteen business day decision obligation runs against the institution, not the student, and it is worth tracking. A materially overdue decision is a procedural fact worth putting in writing, particularly where a student is carrying an interim restriction in the meantime.

An attorney is permitted, at the student’s expense

The handbook allows an advisor or advocate, and an attorney may serve in that role at the student’s own cost. Combined with section 1006.60(3)(g), that advisor may participate rather than merely attend. For a law student, the value is less about advocacy theatre and more about someone testing whether the University has actually discharged the burden the handbook places on it.

The bar application is the real exposure

The sanction recorded on a transcript is seldom the worst of it. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners requires disclosure of academic discipline, and the law school’s own certification accompanies the application. A finding an undergraduate would absorb becomes, for a law student, a character and fitness matter to be explained in writing years later, under oath, next to the school’s account of it.

The objective is therefore a better characterisation, not merely a smaller sanction, because the characterisation is what gets disclosed. An outcome recorded as an academic disagreement closed without any finding of dishonesty is a different bar application from one recorded as an integrity violation involving misrepresentation, even where the practical consequence is identical. That is negotiated before agreement, never after.

What should you do first?

Establish which document is being applied to you, and get it in writing — the University Code of Conduct, not a law school code. Preserve drafts, timestamps, submission records, the assignment prompt, and the syllabus, and alter nothing. Request the allegation, the provision invoked, and the material relied on, citing the five business day disclosure duty. Diary ten business days from the decision date for the appeal, and note the date the fourteen business day decision obligation falls due.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

  • Confirming that the University Code of Conduct governs, and resisting any stricter standard said to be law-school specific
  • Holding the University to the burden its own handbook places on it, at a preponderance of information
  • Participating in the hearing under section 1006.60(3)(g), including questioning witnesses
  • Enforcing the seven business day notice and five business day disclosure duties, exculpatory material included
  • Tracking the fourteen business day decision obligation and documenting any material delay
  • Docketing the ten business day appeal and the thirty day certiorari window behind it
  • Negotiating the characterisation of an outcome with bar character and fitness disclosure in view
  • Handling law school academic standing where a GPA rather than an accusation is the problem

Where a FAMU Law matter would be litigated

The College of Law is in Orange County, which 28 U.S.C. section 89(b) places in the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division — not the Northern District, where the university’s Tallahassee campus sits. That distinction decides where a federal claim arising at the law school is filed, and it is easy to get wrong. I am admitted to the bar of both courts. See the guide to federal districts by campus and the FAMU page.

The other Florida law schools, and why the differences matter

Florida has eleven ABA-approved law schools headquartered in the state plus the Florida campus of Cooley, and their honor codes are not variations on a theme. Whether an advisor may be a lawyer, whether that lawyer may speak, what the school must prove, and which decisions can be appealed at all differ from one to the next — which is why the first question in any case is which document actually governs you.

For the statutory framework behind all of them — Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) at the public schools, the contract and Sharick route at the private ones, and the thirty-day certiorari deadline that catches people out — see Florida student defense. Where the issue is a GPA rather than an accusation, see law school academic standing.

Common questions about FAMU College of Law cases

Does FAMU College of Law have its own honor code?

No. It adopts the University Code of Conduct as its Honor Code under FAMU Regulations 2.012 and 2.013. If someone refers to a law-school-specific honor code, ask which document is actually being applied.

Who has the burden of proof?

The University. The 2025-26 Student Handbook states that the burden in all conduct hearings is on the University and not on the charged student, at a preponderance of information.

How long do I have to appeal?

Ten business days from the date of the decision, in writing, to the Dean of Students or designated senior administrator. A written decision on the hearing itself is due within fourteen business days after the hearing.

Can I bring an attorney?

Yes, as an advisor or advocate at your own expense, and Fla. Stat. 1006.60(3)(g) allows that representative to participate directly and question witnesses because FAMU is a state university.

Which federal court covers the law school?

The Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, because the College of Law is in Orange County. The Tallahassee campus is in the Northern District. Claims arising at the law school belong in the Middle District.

What happens after the internal appeal is over?

The decision is final internally, and the remaining route is a certiorari petition to the circuit court within thirty days. Nothing tolls that window, because Fla. Stat. 120.81(1)(g) removes the DOAH process from student proceedings.