Masorti Law Group PC represents Penn State students and students from surrounding colleges who face criminal charges, student disciplinary hearings, or both at once.
A criminal charge near campus rarely stays contained to the criminal courts. Penn State’s Office of Student Conduct, and similar offices at other Central Pennsylvania colleges, can open a parallel disciplinary case that puts your enrollment, housing, and degree at risk, sometimes before your criminal case is even resolved.
Students downtown near College Avenue, in the dorms, or at off-campus house parties often don’t realize that a single incident can trigger both a police report and a university conduct referral. As a student misconduct attorney, Philip Masorti works both tracks together so decisions made in one process don’t blindside you in the other.
Students facing both a criminal charge and a university disciplinary hearing need a strategy that accounts for both proceedings at once. Below are the areas where Masorti Law Group PC most often steps in for students and their families.
Each matter is handled with the same trial-tested preparation used in every Masorti Law Group PC case, adjusted for what a student and their parents actually need to know at each stage.
Every student case starts with an honest conversation about what’s actually happening: what charges are filed, what the university has communicated, and what deadlines are already running. Many students miss disciplinary hearing deadlines simply because no one explained the process to them, and those deadlines don’t wait for a criminal case to resolve.
From there, Philip Masorti builds a defense strategy that treats the criminal case and the university disciplinary hearing as connected pieces of the same problem. That can mean coordinating what’s said in a conduct hearing so it doesn’t create exposure in the criminal case, or using an ARD outcome to strengthen a student’s standing with the university.
Families are kept informed at every stage in plain language, without legal jargon or false promises. Parents calling from out of town, and students juggling classes while a case moves forward, both get realistic timelines and direct answers about what comes next.
Can a criminal charge and a university disciplinary hearing happen at the same time?
Do I need a lawyer for a student disciplinary hearing if I'm not facing criminal charges?
Will a criminal defense lawyer speak for me during a university disciplinary hearing?
What should a student do first if police or university conduct staff want to talk?
If you or your student is facing criminal charges, a disciplinary hearing, or both, the time to get answers is now, not after a statement has already been made. Masorti Law Group PC, located at 611 University Dr Suite 213, State College, PA, 16801, is available to review the situation and explain exactly what happens next.
