He said it was consensual. She said she blacked out. U-Va. had to decide: Was it assault?

When Haley Lind was found alone in a stranger’s bathroom, she was naked and in a drunken stupor, barely able to stand or speak, a raucous party raging around her. She awoke in her bed hours later, her head pounding, leaves in her hair, soaked in her own urine. “I think I got assaulted last night,” she texted a friend the morning after the annual welcome-back-to-school Block Party at the University of Virginia. “Something just feels very wrong.” The Washington Post reconstructed the events of the night Lind says she was sexually assaulted at U-Va. — and the turmoil that followed — through a review of internal school records, witness statements and legal documents, as well as in numerous interviews, including with Lind, the freshman athlete she accused and their attorneys.

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Rape On Campus: University Of Virginia Rape And Its Aftermath

The Marsh Law Firm represents Stacy who is profiled in this article in Rolling Stone. Our case was one of only fourteen in UVA history where the perpetrator was found guilty. Stacy's perpetrator was suspended. It's unlikely that many of the other thirteen guilty perpetrators were even suspended. None of the fourteen guilty perpetrators were expelled. The assistance and advice of an attorney is essential for victims to ensure the integrity and fairness of the system, the thoroughness and appropriateness of the questions asked, and the pros and cons of the myriad of choices for achieving some measure of justice. Please contact us if you were raped or sexually assaulted on campus. Our lawyers are experienced with the civil, criminal, and disciplinary options facing victims and survivors.

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Campus Report: Anatomy of a Rape Case at the University of Virginia

“This was a very difficult case. Ms. X provides a very compelling and believable account of the events and has clearly been affected by this incident. Mr. Y, your behavior was crass and disrespectful but this panel could not come to a unanimous conclusion that the policy had been violated in this instance. That said, this panel urges you, Mr. Y, to evaluate your actions and your treatment of women in the future. We would strongly suggest that you consider counseling around the issue of consent and respecting the wishes of your sexual partners. The panel wishes Ms. X well as she continues to work through the trauma that this incident has clearly caused.”

These are the words that Dean E. read out loud at the conclusion of a grueling ten-hour hearing in which I had to single-handedly defend my case against the person who had drugged and raped me last December.

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Allegations of a botched UVA rape investigation at center of a challenge to the Campus SaVE Act

Today, the local Charlottesville paper, C-Ville, published this story about the Marsh Law Firm's case against the United States Department of Education and the University of Virginia. Here are some excerpts from the piece.

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Sexual Harassment Law, a Step Back for Class

A woman who claims the University of Virginia brushed aside her sexual assault claim filed a federal class action challenging the Campus SaVE Act, a federal law she claims undermines the rights victims of sexual assault and harassment.

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Former U-Va. student seeks to block new U.S. law on campuses’ handling of sexual assaults

Today, The Washington Post ran this story about the Marsh Law Firm's landmark civil rights action against the United States Department of Education and the University of Virginia. Here are some excerpts:

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Landmark Civil Rights Action Filed by Campus Rape Victim to Halt New Federal Law

A University of Virginia rape victim represented by the Marsh Law Firm has filed a landmark civil rights action to stop a new federal law from undermining pending federal investigations of UVA’s mishandling of a sexual assault case on campus.

Two separate cases—each filed as a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and Equitable Relief—were lodged with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, February 21, 2014 and docketed today.

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