As criticism of Rolling Stone mounts over the magazine's sensational story of sexual assault at the University of Virginia, a UVA associate dean, a student featured in the article and others associated with the controversy are lawyering up.

Associate Dean of Students Nicole Eramo, who heads UVA's Sexual Misconduct Board, has hired Thomas Clare of Clare Locke in Alexandria, Va. Clare, whose practice includes representing high-profile plaintiffs in defamation cases, said the article painted a false portrait of how Eramo responded to students who came to her with sexual assault complaints.

“The story casts her performance and her compassion and her response to the allegations [of sexual assault] in a very negative light and in a way that is damaging to her reputation,” Clare (left) said. Litigation could be an option, he added.