After DLA Piper Accusations, Should Law Firms Fear 'The Open Letter'?
Using an open letter to allege sexual assault is still rare, but not so unusual for clients of Wigdor LLP, which is representing DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero.
October 03, 2019 at 06:29 PM
6 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Instead of levelling accusations in a lawsuit, DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero this week used an open letter to detail her sexual assault allegations against the co-head of the firm's Silicon Valley office.
In the letter, she asked the firm's leaders to voluntarily release her from a mandatory arbitration provision, asserting that no lawyer "should be forced to litigate claims involving sexual assault and battery or sexual harassment by male lawyers in secret".
Airing such allegations in a letter may raise eyebrows, but it is not an unusual tactic for clients of Wigdor LLP, which is representing Guerrero. Other clients of the New York-based employment firm have written open letters calling on companies to release them from arbitration, from Charter Communications, Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley and Uber Technologies.
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