Is there a way to make a schools lawyer answer to an appeal letter my lawyer sent to her? -

I m trying to appeal an academic decision against my school. I had to get a lawyer involved to even get my case heard. After my lawyer submitted a letter to the school, the school s lawyer now refuses to respond to it and the secretary always says she is unavailable or on a conference call. Is there any way I can make the lawyer answer to my appeal before I have to take the next step. The school is a private university in NY.

Dude, that lawyer is just taking your money. Both the school and your lawyer know this, and nothing is ever going to come of your case. Save your cash.

The school lawyer does not have to respond to the letter your lawyer wrote. Since that is the case, it appears your school feels that the academic decision will not be appealed. Perhaps your university has an arbitration panel to hear such cases? You should be entitled to a hearing (unless it already took place or you missed a deadline)... something to check into. Bottom line: Try to resolve the matter on campus. You probably do not want to have to rack up a lot of legal expenses on this matter and take them to court. I can assure you that even if you win, you will have to pay your attorney (many people think the losing party pays, but that is a rarity... all parties pay their own legal expenses, as a general rule).

You need to know what the school s judicial process is. You can t force anyone to respond, but you can t appeal unless the process allows for appeals. If it doesn t, your next move would have to be a lawsuit, which can get very expensive.