Title IX Investigations.
Overview.
Conducting Thorough, Independent, and Accurate Investigations for Universities and Colleges
Under the 2020 Title IX regulations, an institution must respond when it has actual knowledge of sexual harassment that occurred within the institution’s educational program or activity against a person in the United States. Whenever a formal Title IX complaint is made, by either a complainant or by the institution’s Title IX Coordinator, the regulations require an investigation to determine whether sexual harassment has occurred. Title IX investigations are essential elements in an institution’s ability to comply with the regulatory requirement for an appropriate response to allegations of sexual harassment. They must provide a solid factual basis for subsequent proceedings, which for postsecondary institutions typically involve either a live hearing or an informal resolution proceeding.
Given the importance that an investigation holds, it is critical that institutions carry out fair and accurate investigations. Title IX offices should be certain the investigators they engage have the experience necessary to handle the types of allegations at hand.
The BartlettJames team of Title IX investigators is exceptionally equipped to conduct the highest quality investigation at your institution for all types of allegations. As attorneys with years of legal experience in addition to our work within the Title IX realm, we conduct thorough and accurate investigations to ensure your institution's compliance - and bring impartiality to any Title IX investigation.
Are you seeking a Title IX investigator? BartlettJames can assist with both small and large-scale investigations. Contact us immediately if you are in need. We will always respond within one hour.
Bring BartlettJames to Your Institution to Conduct a Fair and Compliant Title IX Investigation
Our team of Title IX investigators is available to carry out independent, thorough, and accurate investigations of formal complaints of prohibited conduct in accordance with the Title IX regulations.
Our services are immediately available to Title IX Coordinators upon request, and our work is completed promptly and thoroughly at a competitive cost for your institution.
Why Choose BartlettJames to Investigate a Title IX Complaint at Your College or University?
BartlettJames has been conducting Title IX investigations for universities and colleges across the country for over six years. Our team of Title IX investigators is fully versed and trained in the requirements of the federal Title IX regulations. Every investigator on our Title IX team is also a seasoned attorney. Our legal experience combined with our experience across various Title IX roles—from investigator to decision-maker to Title IX trainer—provides us with unique insight to anticipate challenges and ensure a highly thorough Title IX investigation.
We appreciate the need for impartiality as well as sensitivity to the parties in carrying out an investigation. We are also well-acquainted with the legal, social, financial, and political pressures to which institutions are subjected, and and we support our client institutions in this environment by conducting expeditious, discrete, and independent investigations.
The Title IX investigation is a critical aspect of Title IX compliance, and BartlettJames is here to assist. Get in touch with our team today to discuss conducting a Title IX investigation on your campus.
We are experienced with large scale investigations and seek to uphold the highest standards of precision and neutrality at every turn.
Team.
James P. Pottorff, Jr.
Director, Higher Education OperationsJim is our Higher Education Team Leader and a member of the BartlettJames Executive Committee.
James P. Pottorff, Jr..
One of the original and most influential leaders of our company, his education, guidance, and general counsel background and expertise were critical in our initial development and will continue to be so in our efforts to serve the nation’s higher education community.
Jim has over 30 years’ experience providing legal advice and counsel to complex organizations, including over 20 years’ combined service as the General Counsel for the University of Kansas and subsequently for the University of Nebraska. As such, he served as the principal legal advisor to the universities’ chief executive officers and other senior administrators. Both universities are comprehensive research universities with academic medical centers and student populations ranging from 28,000 to 51,000 on multiple university campuses. Faculty and staff employees ranged from 7,000 to 16,000. His duties included supervision of 10 or more attorneys and support staff and responsibility for legal advice on all university operational matters, including investigations covering student affairs, labor and employment matters, Title IX compliance, and intercollegiate athletics.
Prior to his university career, Jim was a career Army officer. His 25-plus years in in the Army were served primarily in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. He served as the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) for the 10th Mountain Division and Ft. Drum, New York, where he had a staff of 21 attorneys and more than 50 support personnel to assist more than 10,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilian employees. He also served as the Deputy SJA for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York providing legal services that included employment law, sexual harassment law, labor law, student discipline, intercollegiate athletics, and intellectual property law, as well as advice and oversight on investigations for staff and students. He has held above top secret security clearances and been involved in sensitive investigations during his career.
Jim is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering. He is also a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law where he was the Articles Editor of the Kansas Law Review and a member of Moot Court Council. Jim earned an M.A. degree in national security and strategic studies, with highest distinction, from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and he holds an LL.M., with distinction, in Administrative Law from The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Finally, in addition to graduating from the resident course of the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he earned an M.A. degree in human resource management from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.
Ralph Kohlmann
Ralph provides professional services as a Hearing Officer/Decision Maker, Investigator, Claimant/Respondent Representative and Mediator on matters including employee misconduct and/or performance, harassment complaints under the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, and discrimination complaints under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ralph served 29 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, first as a combat engineer officer and then as a judge advocate.
Ralph Kohlmann.
Ralph provides professional services as a Hearing Officer/Decision Maker, Investigator, Claimant/Respondent Representative and Mediator on matters including employee misconduct and/or performance, harassment complaints under the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, and discrimination complaints under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Ralph served 29 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, first as a combat engineer officer and then as a judge advocate. Before his retirement from the military, Ralph served in billets including platoon commander, engineer detachment commander, prosecutor, defense counsel, staff judge advocate, and military judge. During seven years as a military judge Ralph presided over more than 500 courts martial and served as the first Chief Judge of the U.S. Military Commissions Trial Judiciary in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While assigned to the Army’s Judge Advocate General School (TJAGSA) at the University of Virginia, Ralph served as Professor of Law, teaching evidence, criminal procedure, and trial advocacy.
Following retirement from uniformed service, Ralph accepted an appointment in the Navy's Office of General Counsel. During 13 years of Federal Civil Service Ralph served as a Special Assistant, U. S. Attorney, prosecuting Federal Employment Compensation Act fraud cases, defending the DON against Equal Employment Opportunity claims, and representing the DON regarding misconduct and performance action appeals by Federal Employees to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.
Ralph is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (BS), the Delaware Law School of Widener University (JD), TJAGSA (LLM) and the U. S. Naval War College (MS).
Laurel Wilkerson
Laurel is a highly experienced Title IX investigator. She also serves as one of our most respected Title IX decision-makers. Laurel is an attorney by training. Her career spanned 21 years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, a criminal prosecutor, and in various other positions in administrative law, family law, and on the Army staff in policy positions at the Pentagon. Laurel served as a legal advisor to Department of Defense School Boards and as the Chief of Recruiting for Army lawyers at law schools throughout the United States.
Laurel Wilkerson.
Laurel is a highly experienced Title IX investigator. She also serves as one of our most respected Title IX decision-makers. Laurel is an attorney by training. Her career spanned 21 years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, a criminal prosecutor, and in various other positions in administrative law, family law, and on the Army staff in policy positions at the Pentagon. Laurel served as a legal advisor to Department of Defense School Boards and as the Chief of Recruiting for Army lawyers at law schools throughout the United States.
After retiring from the military, Laurel proved herself an astute and highly successful business professional. Her business acumen is a frequent source of insight to many of our clients. She served as an Area Representative for a national franchise and purchased and co-owned the Oklahoma and Northern Texas territories and the rights to develop Marco’s Pizza Franchises in those areas. Laurel was responsible for opening/selling 40 stores in the area in five years. She owned/operated seven Marco’s Pizza Franchise Stores with annual sales exceeding $6 million dollars in revenue with 285 employees and supervised 12 other franchisees operating within the market. Laurel was named: Best AR/Franchisee of the Year – 3 three years, Top Sales in Franchise – two years, and Top Veteran Franchise Owner in the U.S. -- one year.
Laurel was based in Colorado from 2015 until November 2023. She served on the Summit County Seniors Foundation Board and on the board for the Summit 50 Plus organization (a 1200-member nonprofit that serves older adults in the community.) She delivered Meals on Wheels and worked for and supervised the Mountain Safety Patrol at Copper Mountain throughout the winters.
Laurel earned her business degree and law degree at the University of Georgia. She also holds an L.L.M. and an M.A. in national security and strategic studies.
Laurel currently resides in Tennessee.
An Overview of the Title IX Investigation Process.
Educational institutions bear the burden of gathering evidence regarding formal Title IX complaints. The institution—not the complainant or the respondent - is therefore responsible for conducting a Title IX investigation and collecting the facts necessary for accurate decision-making in a Title IX hearing. However, parties also have a right to gather and present evidence under the Title IX regulations.
Educational institutions have a duty to respond to Title IX complaints and complete timely Title IX investigations. While some Title IX investigations require more time than others, the BartlettJames team ordinarily completes a Title IX investigation in 30 days or less. We understand the urgency of preservation of witness testimony and the concern that memories may fade or become confused over time. While on average other companies involved in providing these services often conduct investigations lasting 60 days or more, we emphasize timely completion as we recognize the importance of timeliness not only to the parties involved but to the institution itself. Various factors, such as the complexity of allegations, involvement of law enforcement, number of allegations, complainants, respondents, and/or witnesses, can influence the length of an investigation. However, we are equipped to staff an investigation with the requisite number of investigators to assure prompt completion, again ordinarily within 30 days or less.
The Title IX investigation process typically includes the following steps:
1. Parties are notified
Educational institutions are required to provide the parties with notice of their institutional grievance procedures, including any informal resolution process. The notice must include the allegations involved, including sufficient details and sufficient time to prepare a response. The written notice must include a statement that the respondent is presumed not responsible and that a determination regarding responsibility will be made at the conclusion of the grievance process. The notice must also inform the parties that they may have an advisor of their choice and that they will have the opportunity to review any evidence collected.
2. Facts are gathered
At this point, the investigation will commence. Institutions are required to ensure that investigators are trained in the definition of sexual harassment, the scope of the institution’s education program or activity, how to conduct an investigation, and how to serve impartially. Investigators must also receive training on issues of relevance, especially regarding questions and evidence about a complainant’s past sexual activities, which ordinarily are not relevant.
Investigators must also understand that the burden of proof and the burden of gathering evidence regarding responsibility rest on the institution and not on the parties. The BartlettJames investigative teams are highly trained and familiar with these investigatory requirements.
Investigators must provide an equal opportunity for the parties to present witnesses, including fact and expert witnesses, and inculpatory and exculpatory evidence. Investigators will interview the complainant, the respondent, and appropriate witnesses. The investigative interviews ordinarily will be conducted individually, and the parties must be given the opportunity to have an advisor present.
Following initial interviews, if investigators have follow-up questions for the complainant, respondent or witnesses, additional interviews will be appropriate.
The investigators will collect additional information and facts about the allegations, which may include phone logs, text messages, emails, voicemails, social media posts, photos, videos, rideshare receipts, results from a rape kit and, if permitted by local law enforcement, police reports, as well as other relevant information.
3. Evidence is reviewed by the parties
The investigator must provide both parties an equal opportunity to inspect and review any evidence obtained during the investigation that is directly related to the allegations in the formal complaint. Prior to completion of the investigative report, this information must be sent to the parties and their advisors. The parties must have at least 10 days in which to submit a written response. The investigator must consider all written responses prior to completion of the investigative report. If the responses from one or more parties raise relevant questions or include new evidence or witnesses that require additional consideration, investigators should continue the investigation as appropriate to address these issues.
4. Investigative report is created
The investigator will write create an investigative report that fairly summarizes the evidence. The report must be provided to the parties and their advisors at least 10 days prior to any formal hearing for their review and written response.
5. Hearing takes place
Once the investigation is complete, postsecondary institutions must provide for a live hearing as part of their grievance process unless informal resolution procedures are implemented. The Title IX regulations require cross-examination to be permitted, although the parties themselves do not conduct the cross-examination. After the hearing is complete, the decision-maker (who cannot be the investigator) will determine whether sexual harassment in violation of Title IX. The burden of proof will be either by the preponderance of the evidence or by clear and convincing evidence. This must be the same standard as applied to formal complaints against employees, including faculty.
6. Final determination regarding responsibility
The decision-maker, who cannot be the same person as the Title IX Coordinator or the investigator, must issue a written opinion regarding responsibility. It must include the allegations, a description of the procedural steps taken, findings of fact supporting the decision, conclusions about the applicability of the institution’s code of conduct to the facts, a statement of and rationale for the result as to each allegation, including a determination regarding responsibility, any disciplinary sanctions imposed or recommended, any remedies to be provided to the complainant, and the procedures and bases for the complainant and the respondent to file any appeal.
A thorough Title IX investigation plays a critical role in determining the outcome of the hearing—outcomes that may have profound consequences for all involved. Educational institutions must ensure they obtain all the relevant facts from a Title IX investigation. If your institution has need of a team of investigators who can handle up even the most complex cases, contact us as soon as possible.
Do Title IX Investigations Always Result from Title IX Allegations?
Educational institutions must proceed with a Title IX investigation whenever there is a formal Title IX complaint. However, according to the 2020 Title IX regulations, the wishes of the complainant regarding whether to file a formal complaint, must be given appropriate consideration by the institution. The Title IX regulations provide that the Title IX Coordinator may, however, determine that a formal complaint and investigation are “not clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances” and proceed with an investigation.
Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Under the 2020 Title IX regulations implementing the 1972 statute, sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual conduct (often referred to as quid pro quo harassment), sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and unwelcome conduct so severe, persuasive, and objectively offensive that if effectively denies a person equal access to a school’s program or activity.
Any formal complaint that meets the definition of sexual harassment and occurs in an institution’s education program or activity will not be dismissed and is required to be investigated. If the formal complaint is dismissed because it does not fall under the ambit of the Title IX regulations, it may still be addressed under other policies of the institution, such as codes of conduct for students and faculty and staff employees.
Get In Touch With BartlettJames for Immediate Assistance with Your Title IX Investigation
Navigating Title IX complaints can be challenging, with substantial potential consequences for the parties as well as the institution involved. The serious nature of Title IX allegations and the potential resulting consequences require comprehensive knowledge of the Title IX regulations as well as diligence, speed, and accuracy. Any professional involved in assessing Title IX allegations must be thoroughly trained in Title IX regulations and highly experienced in order to avoid error and preserve impartiality. It is the responsibility of the institution—and specifically, its Title IX Coordinators and General Counsel—to ultimately ensure this mandate is met.
With BartlettJames, you can off-load the burden of a thorough, fair, and compliant Title IX investigation.
BartlettJames is a team you can count on to conduct a precise, efficient investigation. Get in touch with us today to discuss your needs. We will respond within one hour. Always.
