An alleged sexual assault victim has been placed on administration leave by a law firm that employs Kamala Harris’s husband one week after asking the presidential candidate to condemn the way the firm handles sexual assault accusations.
The firm, DLA Piper, said the alleged assault victim, Vanina Guerrero, was placed on leave effective immediately on Tuesday after she was accused of harassing another employee in an unrelated case.
Guerrero’s attorney, Jeanne M. Christensen, claimed the move was part of DLA Piper’s “unprecedented smear campaign” aimed at silencing her client “for daring to complain about being sexually assaulted by Louis Lehot, a senior partner at DLA Piper.”
“DLA Piper opted to publicly smear her at a level that is barbaric and never before seen by a global law firm,” said Christensen in a statement on Wednesday.
Guerrero, a partner at DLA Piper’s Palo Alto office, accused her boss at the firm, Louis Lehot, of sexually assaulting her on several occasions during business trips in 2018. Lehot “parted ways” with DLA Piper last week, according to the firm, which said it had not substantiated the allegations against him.
Harris’s husband, Douglas Emhoff, is a partner in DLA Piper’s Los Angeles office.
Harris was pulled into the controversy earlier this month after Guerrero’s attorney sent a public letter to the Democratic candidate asking her to condemn DLA Piper’s policy for sexual assault allegations. The firm requires employees to take their claims to a private arbitrator and prohibits them from filing a suit in public court.
Harris, a critic of mandatory arbitration, said through a representative last week that she “has long opposed forced arbitration agreements, and that position has not changed and she does not believe this is any exception.”
Harris did not respond to a request for comment about Guerrero being placed on administrative leave.
DLA Piper informed Guerrero of its decision in a letter on Tuesday. Stasia Kelly, a managing partner at the firm, wrote that “during the course of our investigation of your allegations against Louis Lehot, another individual at the Firm alleged that you engaged in inappropriate behavior toward, and harassed, that individual.”
“Unfortunately, you continue to refuse to cooperate with that investigation, including refusing to discuss the allegations that have been made against you,” wrote Kelly, adding that Guerrero would be placed on leave immediately while the allegations against her were investigated. The letter does not include details of the harassment allegations.
Guerrero’s attorney claimed her client was blindsided by the letter, which she said DLA Piper sent out in a press release “to media outlets across the country.”
“Last night in the middle of the night, DLA Piper sent me an email attaching a letter that was allegedly sent to Ms. Guerrero sometime late last night. In this letter, DLA Piper accuses her of alleged ‘harassment,'” wrote Christensen. “To be clear, as of the writing of this email, our Firm and Ms. Guerrero have no knowledge or information about the purported “harassment.”
“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,” she added.
