Warshaw Burstein LLP | Partner Kimberly C. Lau, Chair of Warshaw Burstein, LLP’s Title IX/College Discipline Group, is featured in The College Fix.
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Partner Kimberly C. Lau, Chair of Warshaw Burstein, LLP’s Title IX/College Discipline Group, is featured in The College Fix.

02/20/2020
In The College Fix, "Accusers use ‘street justice’ to harass accused students before a verdict. Their lawyers are fighting back." Kimberly C. Lau, Litigation Partner and Chair of Warshaw Burstein, LLP’s Title IX/College Discipline Group is featured as identifying a trend arising out of the Title IX process that is putting respondents at a disadvantage in defending themselves in the public arena, and offered advice on what colleges and universities can do to make this part of the process more fair to all parties involved:

“As a result of Violence Against Women's Act and Title IX, schools believe their hands are tied; they do not believe they have the authority to prohibit complainants from discussing the allegations with as many individuals as they see fit,” Lau wrote in an email. In the meantime, “[s]chools would rather tell accused students to take their issue to the courts and file a defamation action against the complainant than tell a complainant that he/she should not publicize their allegations.” A breach-of-contract lawsuit for not accepting bullying and harassment complaints stemming from defamation may gain more traction in the courts than suing from a “Title IX perspective,” Lau said. But lawyers must account for colleges’ obligations under VAWA and Title IX if they try to argue this, “and I have not seen this occur yet.”