With experience, deep resources and a client-focused and trauma-informed approach, we help survivors of sexual abuse find their voice, understand and pursue their rights, and safely navigate all of the systems they will have to face—from administrative, to criminal and then civil.
What you see on TV, with the police and prosecutors supporting and protecting the victims, isn’t typically the reality. Survivors often feel overwhelmed, confused and sometimes even attacked by the people they may have expected to be on their side. Our dedicated team—including survivors themselves, a former Catholic priest and prominent national advocate on clergy abuse, former prosecutors and a partner skilled in keeping people from wiggling away through bankruptcy—know what protective barriers to put up, which levers to pull, and when.
Grant & Eisenhofer’s criminal and sexual violence team combine decades of experience advocating for victims of sexual and other types of violence together with top-notch trial lawyers who routinely face down large corporations in injury cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Although we are compassionate and trauma focused with our clients, we are fierce in our vindication of their rights and we get results.
What we See on the Horizon
Institutions Continuing to Avoid Accountability by Fighting Statute-of-Limitations Expanding “Child Victim’s Act” laws
- Investing significant funds into lobbying state legislatures to oppose or modify the bills
- Instead of settling with their victims, hiring the biggest, “best” law firms to challenge newly passed laws in court, often with due process or state constitutional arguments—we stand ready to counter each point
- Arguing for limits or exceptions
- Other delay tactics, such as raising procedural technicalities—we are extremely well-resourced, and won’t be dissuaded in this way
- When all else fails, seeking to escape and further abuse the system by filing for bankruptcy—we’ve got a dedicated Bankruptcy partner on our team, well-versed at countering such strategies and regularly finding and securing the money
Unrepresented Victims Inadvertently or Unknowingly Continuing to Waive Important Rights, e.g.:
- Not fighting for pseudonyms, or the right to remain anonymous, in criminal court—which they can jeopardize their ability to use them in civil court
- Prosecutors not objecting, or giving the victim notice, that the defense has subpoenaed their entire medical history—everything they’ve ever told a doctor in their lives!
- Prosecutors inadvertently waiving privilege by asking for all medical records—which they are then obligated to turn over to the defense
Whether State-Owned or Private, Institutions Continuing to Sexually Harm, or Negligently Failing to Protect, People Entrusted to Their Care
- The Catholic Church and other religious organizations
- Schools and sports settings
- Care settings—hospitals, treatment facilities or daycare
- Juvenile and other detention facilities
- Children’s organizations—such as the Boy Scouts
- Camps
The Reason Plaintiffs Hire Us
Whatever the nature of the sexual assault, we act as a dedicated and committed guide and ‘bodyguard’ between the victim and the system, from start to finish—including explaining what and why everything is happening every step of the way.
- Dealing with the police, in a way that protects/preserves your rights
- Protecting your privacy, and your anonymity (if desired)
- If we are brought in early enough, helping the patient navigate the hospital visit/rape kit
- If the assault takes place on a college campus, helping the survivor navigate university disciplinary system/Title IX
- Criminal proceedings – ensuring the survivor does not unnecessarily waive certain protections, and helping to set up the case optimally for a civil trial by preserving key rights and claims
- Ensuring that child survivors are protected—and that we do what’s best for the kid, regardless of what a prosecutor may think is best for the case
- Civil proceedings – either against the perpetrator or a third-party facilitator
This is all our team does. And we do all of it carefully and with great sensitivity, staying behind the scenes until and unless another approach becomes necessary.
