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In an editorial published this week in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Ruth O’Meara-Costello writes about how colleges and universities should handle allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault under Title IX. In the article, available here, Ruth argues that schools are not obligated to—and should not—open Title IX investigations into complaints that do not describe a violation of the law or of the schools’ own policies.

Monica Shah helped her client, a male undergraduate student, prevail against charges of sexual harassment and related disciplinary violations brought by his university under Title IX and the university’s student disciplinary code of conduct. She also helped her client successfully defend his acquittal against the complainant’s appeal.

Journalist Emily Yoffe has published an article in Slate concerning the documentary film The Hunting Ground, which is about the issue of sexual assault on campus.  The film features a case in which Norman Zalkind represented the accused student in a criminal case stemming from a charged campus assault.  Ms. Yoffe concludes that the filmmakers did an injustice to our client, who was acquitted of felony charges at trial, by blurring the truth and failing to tell both sides of the story. The story is here.

For more information on ZDB’s practice representing students facing campus disciplinary charges, click here. For more information on our representation of defendants charged with criminal sex offenses, click here.

On May 15, 2015, the National Lawyers Guild – Massachusetts Chapter celebrated its 45th anniversary since its rebirth in late 1969 and the beginning of 1970. As a part of this celebration, the founders of the renewed Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild were honored at the annual NLG Testimonial Dinner.  ZDB’s founding partner, Norman Zalkind, and of counsel, Harvey Silverglate, were among those founders celebrated at this dinner as they played a vital role in re-establishing the Massachusetts Chapter after disbandment in 1953 due to McCarthyism. During a time of widespread activism, the new Guild represented clientele ranging from the Black Panther Party to anti-war demonstrators to women’s rights activists. Thanks to the support and involvement of attorneys Zalkind and Silverglate in these representations, the NLG Massachusetts Chapter became a crucial part of holding the activist legal community together and has continued to impact social legal change to this day.

Naomi Shatz writes an article for Huffington Post about parental leave in a different context than we usually see in our employment practice.”Why Don’t We Have Family Leave Policies for High School Students?” discusses the implications of insufficient legal protections for teen parents, and steps some lawmakers are taking to help them maintain educational opportunities.

On a recent episode of BUTV’s On That Point, ZDB’s Naomi Shatz spoke about how colleges handle sexual assault cases.  When asked how university procedures  differ from criminal procedures for sexual assault Shatz said the difference “is like apples and oranges,” pointing to the higher burden of proof placed on the prosecutor trying to make a sexual assault case than the one schools must meet to find a student responsible for sexual assault, and procedural protections for defendants in criminal cases that are lacking in school procedures.

The full episode can be viewed here.

Quoted by The American Bar Association Journal in a newly-published article, David Duncan elaborates on the inadequacies of the many recent changes to the rules and procedures of handling sexual assault in higher education institutions. Read Attorney Duncan’s words, as well as the full article, here.

It will be difficult for prosecutors to meet the standard for causation in convicting 18-year-old Michelle Carter of manslaughter, says David Duncan in a recent Boston Herald article. The teen stands accused of encouraging her late boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to carry out his attempted suicide. Read the full story here.

Harvey A. Silverglate, of-counsel to ZDB, writes a revealing WGBH News article with his paralegal, Timothy C. Moore, on prosecutorial and police coercion of witnesses and their testimony in criminal trials. Mr. Silverglate uses the ongoing perjury trials in Hampden County Superior Court of Nathan Perez and Giselle Albelo to shed light on the ongoing problem of detectives’ threatening and improper conduct when questioning witnesses. Perez and Albelo, whose testimony was crucial in convicting Charles Wilhite of murder in a December 2010 case regarding the October 2008 fatal shooting of Alberto Rodriguez in Springfield, eventually recanted their incriminating testimony, stating that they falsely testified due to intimidation and misconduct by detectives. These recantations led to a new trial in January 2013 for Charles Wilhite, in which Wilhite was acquitted of the murder charges. Following Wilhite’s acquittal, Perez and Albelo were indicted for perjury. The complicated and messy nature of Perez’s and Albelo’s perjury trials illuminates why, according to Mr. Silverglate and Mr. Moore, all suspect and witness interviews (not just the currently-required custodial interviews) should be recorded. Read the full article here.

On February 4, 2015, Norman Zalkind argued before the Supreme Judicial Court that a murder charge pending against his client Timi Wallace should be dismissed because the Commonwealth violated his client’s right to a speedy trial under the 6th Amendment to the Constitution and the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The argument can be viewed here. The briefs in the case, including an amicus brief submitted on behalf of Mr. Wallace by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, are available here.