Law Firm Takes on Clergy, Campus Abuse
By Gary Warth
When a Harvard graduate recently decided to sue the prestigious school for not taking her claims of sexual assault seriously, she turned to a law firm about 3,000 miles away to file a suit with two North County attorneys. “We’ve gotten out there,” said Irwin Zalkin about the growing reputation of the Zalkin Law Firm in Carmel Valley. “We’ve gotten to be known.” After becoming known for taking on the San Diego Catholic Diocese and representing victims of clergy abuse among Jehovah’s Witnesses across the nation, the firm is earning a new reputation for representing college students who have sued their schools for mishandling their reports of sexual assault or harassment. While Zalkin has represented victims of clergy abuse for more than a decade, Alex Zalkin, his 31-year-old son who joined the firm about five years ago, has focused on university cases. “I think there is an institutional problem with how they view sexual assault,” the younger Zalkin said. “I think historically it’s been marginalized and ignored. There is a mindset that needs to be addressed, that needs to be changed, about how women are treated on campus.” The law firm helps sponsors two conference on sexual abuse, publishes papers on the subject and has fought for legislation supporting victims. Irwin Zalkin’s involvement in the field began somewhat reluctantly. While working primarily as a maritime attorney in 2002, Zalkin was approached by someone he called a high-profile figure in San Diego who said he and his two brothers were victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. “At that time I said, ‘Look, I really don’t know anything about this area,’” Zalkin recalled. “I tried to refer him to other attorneys.” The victim had approached Zalkin in the wake of a series of stories the Boston Globe in 2002. That series, the subject of the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” sparked similar lawsuits against the church internationally. “We became known through the child sexual abuse we were doing with the Catholic abuse cases primarily,” Irwin Zalkin said. “That morphed into a practice that was dedicated to representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse.” Both men said that as with cases against the clergy, the problem of sexual assault on campuses probably has gone back many years, but is only recently getting attention. Alex Zalkin noted 31 alleged victims of sexual assault, some going back to 1979, filed a collective complaint against UC Berkeley for failing to respond to their reports of sexual assault. “That’s some evidence that this is not a new problem,” Alex Zalkin said. The Zalkins have not been involved in any local cases, but have represented clients in other cities and states. Most recently, 2015 Harvard graduate Alyssa Leader sued her school over claims that officials did not take her sexual assault reports seriously, leaving her to live in the same dormitory as her alleged abuser. In other cases they’ve handled, a former UC Santa Barbara student sued the UC Regents in December and alleged the school failed to investigate her report of a sexual assault by a student. In November, four women sued Michigan State University in a lawsuit that claimed the school dragged out its investigation of their sexual assault reports. Last June, three current and former UC Berkeley students claimed in a lawsuit that their school did not properly respond to their sexual assault reports. While such problems may go back decades, it wasn’t until 1997 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students had the right to sue their schools under Title IX, a law that prohibits sex discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. The firm’s first Title IX case came in 2013 when a group of Occidental College students claimed they had been sexually harassed by an athletic trainer at the school. The suit was settled in 2014. “It’s kind of snowballed from there,” Alex Zalkin said, adding that more lawsuits will be filed in the next few months, although none are local. There have been local concerns about sexual assaults on campuses, however. A series of assaults were reported on or near San Diego State University last year, and SDSU and UC San Diego each have hired full-time advocates to help students who are victims of sexual violence. At another campus, two University of San Diego students sued their school last year for not follow procedures after they reported being raped. While Alex Zalkin said studies have shown false sexual misconduct claims against students to be very rare, at least two male students have complained of unfair treatment in the past year. A San Diego State University student was suspended in December 2014 after he was accused of sexual assault, but the school lifted the suspension in September after his attorney argued that the charge was unsubstantiated. In a similar case last April, a UC San Diego student sued to have his suspension reversed after he disputed a sexual misconduct charge against him. While not commenting on any of those cases, Irwin Zalkin said many of the problems schools get into could be solved if they would simply follow their own policies and federal procedures designed to protect students. Besides being the right thing to do, Irwin Zalkin said following the proper procedures outlined by the U.S. Department of Education can protect the school, help victims find justice and provide due process to the accused. “If they were to follow those (guidelines), they’d have a much better chance of vetting out cases that are false or where there just isn’t enough substantiated claim,” Irwin said. “The problem is, they don’t do that.” Anna Voremberg, managing director of the survivor’s advocacy group End Rape on Campus, has referred people to the Zalkin Law Firm and said the attorneys understand the needs of their clients. “For any traumatic and violent crimes, they’re going to provide a sense of care and comfort,” she said. “And the Zalkin Law Firm is known for being aware of the needs of survivors. Their past experience has informed the positive way they treat survivors.” Contact: gary.warth@sduniontribune.com
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