Sexual Abuse and Assault

We have represented hundreds of sexual assault victims, including children, adults, and adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, asserting claims against individual perpetrators as well as the institutions that enabled them, including Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, schools and universities, hospitals, foster care agencies, and prisons.

New York State recently enacted the Adult Survivors Act to revive claims for sexual assault where the victim was over the age of 18 years old at the time of the assault.  On November 24, 2022, a one-year look-back window will open to permit survivors of adult sexual assault to pursue their claims in court no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.

When traditional assault claims are not viable, we seek justice for our clients in creative ways. We have made new law on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse through defamation law, winning a landmark case in New York’s highest court and leveraging that victory in later litigation against Donald Trump, successfully fending off his multiple attempts to dismiss or stay one woman’s efforts to hold him accountable for his lies about his sexual assaults of her.

We have obtained more than $125 million in settlements and judgments for sexual abuse survivors over the years.  But we also recognize that justice is not always about money. We have strategized with clients in defending them against threats or attacks for telling the truth. And our current case against the NYPD is aimed at stopping its discriminatory pattern and practice of engaging in sorely inadequate sexual assault investigations, which mistreats and debases women and girls who have bravely reported being sexually assaulted.

Jeffrey Epstein Survivors

We represent approximately 20 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific sexual abuse, including women who were raped, women who were abused when they were children, and women who were trafficked to other perpetrators. We have helped our clients support criminal prosecutions, filed federal civil litigation, and assisted them in seeking compensation through an administrative fund process that we fought to help create.

Rockefeller University Hospital

Successfully represented more than 250 survivors of childhood sexual abuse by Dr. Reginald Archibald, a pediatric endocrinologist at Rockefeller University Hospital who used his position to abuse children horrifically for more than four decades. We resolved many of those claims, and are currently pursuing Rockefeller in the courts.

Miriam Haley v. Harvey Weinstein

Represent rape victim whose testimony at Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial led to his 20-year prison sentence in civil litigation against him pending in federal court.

Rodriguez v. City of New York

Obtained a $1.4 million settlement on behalf of a transgender woman who was sexually assaulted twice in five days after being housed unlawfully in a male facility on Rikers Island.  This is among the largest settlements of any claim brought by an individual in New York State for sexual assault while in custody.

Zervos v. Trump

Represented former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos in her claim that Donald Trump defamed her by asserting falsely that she lied about being sexually assaulted by him. Successfully resisted numerous attempts by Trump to dismiss or stay the case in the trial and appellate courts on constitutional and defamation law grounds, including by building on new law we had made in an earlier case in New York’s highest court.