Biglaw

Now The DLA Piper Accuser Has Been Put On Leave

Her lawyer says it is part of a 'smear campaign.'

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Vanina Guerrero

Damn, this case just keeps on getting messier and messier.

Biglaw followers have likely been keeping up to date on the details of this case, but, for the sake of completeness, we’ll hit the highlights. Earlier this month, DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero released an open letter to the firm, and filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the co-managing partner of the Silicon Valley office, Louis Lehot repeatedly sexually assaulted her after she’d been recruited to the firm in 2018. She additionally asked the firm to release her from their mandatory arbitration agreement so she’d be able to pursue her claims in open court. The firm has been conspicuously silent on the forced arbitration agreement — despite the attention their arbitration stance in this case has garnered, but, they did announce that Lehot had been let go from the firm.

In the latest twist, the firm placed Guerrero herself on administrative leave. According to the firm’s statement on the matter, new claims about Guerrero’s behavior were uncovered during the course of their investigation into Lehot, as reported by Big Law Business:

“During the course of our investigation into her claims, serious issues were brought to the firm’s attention,” DLA Piper said Wednesday. Its statement didn’t say what those alleged issues are, except that they involved Guerrero’s “conduct towards and involving others at the firm,” are unrelated to her claims about Lehot, and “require a separate investigation.”

And Guerrero’s lawyer, Jeanne Christensen of Wigdor LLP, is PISSED. According to a statement from the lawyer, Guerrero was not informed of the specific allegations against her before she was placed on leave. Additionally, Christensen takes the position that the firm is engaged in a smear campaign against her client:

This is a despicable smear campaign against a female victim of sexual assault. Female lawyers, associates or partners, and female employees at DLA Piper and law firms everywhere should be frightened and deeply concerned.

The message is loud and clear: #MeToo movement or not – speaking out about gender motivated violence will result in untold harm, damage and pain to you personally and professionally.

How can lawyers at DLA Piper stand by and watch this happen to one of their own?

How can clients of DLA Piper stand by and say this is ok?

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The firm is declining to release additional information about the allegation against Guerrero:

“Given the nature of these serious claims, as well as Ms. [Vanina Guerrero] de Verneuil’s refusal to cooperate regarding the allegations against her, the firm has determined that the best course of action at this time is to place Ms. [Vanina Guerrero] de Verneuil on paid administrative leave. We are not in a position to comment further now other than to provide this brief statement in order to ensure that the public record is accurate in light of extensive public commentary from Ms. [Vanina Guerrero] de Verneuil and her lawyers.”

We’ll be following these developments as they happen.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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