Biglaw

Former Linklaters Partner Gets Jail Time For Sexually Assaulting Student Intern

The offending partner was punched in the face by another partner after the assault took place.

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A former Linklaters partner in Germany has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for the sexual assault of a student that occurred in 2014 at a firm party. According to LawFuel, that student was reportedly an intern at the firm.

Thomas Elser, a former tax partner at Linklaters, reportedly came to blows with Laurenz Schmitt, another former partner at the firm, in the aftermath of an office Oktoberfest party. Legal Cheek, which reported on this story when it occurred, noted that Schmitt was attempting to protect the female intern from Elser’s advances. Schmitt punched Elser in the face (a crime for which Schmitt later received a seven-month suspended sentence), and both partners left the firm after the incident following an internal investigation. Legal Cheek has more on what happened:

[S]ources close to the firm suggest that the two lawyers — both partners in the Munich office — had a disagreement over how much one of them should impinge on the personal body space of a young female student attending the party.

It is understood that Schmitt took the view that Elsner had stepped over that invisible line, so he landed several punches in a bid to get the tax specialist to back off.

Linklaters partners, both current and former, served as witnesses during Elser’s trial. The American Lawyer has some additional details on the investigation and trial:

“We have always been mindful that there is a young student at the center of this case,” a Linklaters spokesperson said. “That concern has guided our behavior and priorities throughout.”

Linklaters conducted its own internal investigation of the incident, which was led by London-based litigation partner Christa Band and former senior partner Robert Elliott.

A number of current and former Linklaters partners were called as witnesses during the trial including Band, Frankfurt banking partner Carl-Peter Feick, Frankfurt tax partner Jens Blumenberg, Munich tax partner Rainer Stadler and former German private equity head Rainer Traugott, who left the firm for Latham & Watkins in early 2016.

Elser was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Former Linklaters Partner Given Three-Year Prison Sentence for Sexual Assault [American Lawyer]
Two Linklaters partners fall on swords after Oktoberfest punch-up [Legal Cheek]
Linklaters Partner Gets Three Years’ Jail After Oktoberfest Sexual Assault [LawFuel]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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