We stand with New York survivors against abusers and the institutions that let it happen.
We represent survivors of sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and gender-motivated violence across New York. We sue the people who caused the harm, along with the schools, employers, hospitals, and online platforms that enabled it.
Not in New York? We represent survivors across the country.
New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act lookback window is open, and it revives expired claims, including ones previously dismissed as too late. Survivors have until July 29, 2027 to file. See if the GMVA window applies to you →
Who we represent in New York
We represent survivors, and the families of people harmed by institutions that were supposed to protect them. Every case starts with listening: to what happened to you, and to what justice means for you or the person you love. From there, we build the record, hold every responsible party accountable, and take the case to trial if that’s what justice requires.
Sexual Abuse & Gender-Based Violence
We represent survivors of sexual assault and abuse in schools, workplaces, hospitals, religious institutions, youth programs, and other organizations, and we pursue Title IX claims from K-12 schools to universities, in New York and across the country, including claims New York closed for years and has now reopened. We are here to hold accountable the person who wronged you or your family, and the institution that looked away.
Our Abuse & Title IX Lawyers
Sex Trafficking & Exploitation
We go after the people who exploited survivors. When websites, apps, hotels, or employers advertised the abuse or took a cut, we go after them too. This is the model our counsel built against Backpage.com.
Our Trafficking Lawyers
Employment & Civil Rights
Workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in every industry across New York City.
Workplace harassment in New York
Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA)
The New York City law that revives claims for violence committed at least in part because of gender, and lets survivors name the institutions that enabled it. The lookback window closes July 29, 2027.
The GMVA Window
Schools, Campuses & Fraternities
Hazing, sexual assault, and school shootings at New York schools and campuses. The firm’s groundbreaking hazing cases helped establish the legal theories used today.
Our School & Campus Lawyers
Catastrophic Injury & Wrongful Death
A life-altering injury or the loss of a family member, pursued with the full force of a firm that tries institutional cases for a living.
Our Injury LawyersYou don’t need to know the legal word for it.
Ask whether the law applies to you without describing the worst of it. Where it happened, roughly when, and what you want us to know is enough. A real person reads every message.
Ask usWe work to empower you.
You may be able to file as Jane or John Doe.
Coming forward shouldn’t mean your name becomes public. New York allows survivors to file under a pseudonym, so your identity stays out of the public record. We will explain exactly what that protects, then handle the filing as you see fit.
Filing without your nameNo police report required.
A civil case is separate from a criminal one. You don’t need a police report, a charge, or a conviction to hold someone, or the institution that stands behind them, accountable in civil court. Civil and criminal cases follow different rules and carry a different burden of proof. We’ll explain what that means for you and your case, step by step.
Title IX, school discipline, and civil suits.
After a campus assault, a survivor’s options can feel overwhelming and confusing. We work closely with you to understand your goals. You may want to hold the perpetrator (a professor, another student, a coach) accountable in a private Title IX proceeding, or you may wish to file a lawsuit and demand institutional change from your school or university. We figure that out together.
How the three tracks workWe don’t make you relive it.
We build the record from documents, institutional history, and expert testimony, so you are not asked to retell the worst of it over and over to move a case forward. You decide what you are ready to do and when, and we will have your back.
These New York City organizations can help with safety planning and advocacy, whether or not you ever bring a legal claim. Safe Horizon’s 24-hour hotline is 1-800-621-4673. For trafficking, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888. If you are in danger right now, call 911.
New York has an open window.
Claims that were once too late can be filed again, but there’s a deadline. Which deadline applies depends on what happened, how old you were, where in the state it happened, and whether a public institution was involved. The most urgent window right now is the city’s GMVA window, which closes July 29, 2027. It also lets survivors refile more than 450 claims against institutions that were dismissed in 2025. Our deadline guide lays out every option for you and lets you check yours privately. In one free conversation, we can tell you which one applies.
A New York team, backed by a national trial firm.
Meet your New York team. Behind them sits a firm that has tried institutional cases in nearly every state for three decades.
Olympias Iliana Konidaris
Iliana has more than a decade in New York City and across the country representing survivors of gender-based violence: Title IX at the K-12, university, and graduate levels, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and cyber-abuse cases. She is lead counsel for the plaintiff in the Ethical Culture Fieldston School litigation, ongoing here in the Bronx.
Her work against Backpage.com is the model for the firm’s platform-accountability practice. When an online business profits from harm, we pursue the business alongside the individuals it enabled, an approach the firm carries into cases like its wrongful-death suit against the telehealth platform Hims.
Iliana was on the litigation team that sued Backpage.com on behalf of survivors of child sex trafficking in Florida. Years of litigation across the country helped catalyze FOSTA-SESTA in 2018 and the Justice Department’s shutdown and prosecution of the site the same year, producing a survivor-restitution fund exceeding $200 million. The firm represented survivors who petitioned the fund before its March 31, 2026 deadline.
Gabrielle Lewis
Gabrielle works on the firm’s Title IX, GMVA, and campus sexual violence cases, representing students harmed by sexual assault, harassment, stalking, and dating violence and pursuing the schools that failed them. She studied gender-based violence at Harvard Law School in the Gender Violence Program founded by Diane Rosenfeld.
Read Bio
Caitlin McCartney
Caitlin represents survivors of gender-based violence and discrimination at school and at work, drawing on more than a decade of civil rights litigation under Title IX, Title VII, and federal anti-trafficking law. At the New York Attorney General’s Office, she investigated systemic sexual harassment and led a review of Title IX compliance in secondary schools.
Read BioA national trial firm, behind them and on your case.
New York cases are staffed from New York and worked alongside the firm’s trial team. When your case calls for the firm’s full firepower, our founder is on the line.
Douglas E. Fierberg Founder · Trial Attorney
Tried the Cornell case that set New York precedent on fraternity liability, and led counsel for twenty Virginia Tech families.
Jonathon N. Fazzola Partner · Trial Attorney
Represented the parents of Max Gruver, an LSU freshman who died after fraternity hazing in 2017, and won a $6.1 million wrongful-death verdict, one of the largest in Louisiana for the death of a child.
Rachael Denhollander Of Counsel · Advocate
The first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, and one of TIME’s 100 most influential people.
When institutions fail survivors, we make them answer.
From schools to hospitals to online platforms, we hold institutions accountable. In the ongoing Ethical Culture Fieldston School litigation in the Bronx, the claims run against the school itself. In the Backpage.com litigation, they reached the platform. In our wrongful-death suit against the telehealth platform Hims, they reach the business model that put people at risk.
The same approach produced the Cornell fraternity case over the hazing death of George Desdunes, which set New York precedent on institutional liability that other firms now cite. Most of our New York work never appears in a press release. We handle high-profile matters without publicity unless a client asks otherwise. Coming forward does not mean you need to go public.
Across the wider Northeast our work also reaches Harvard, Penn State, and New Jersey. A single case often supports several claims at once. We don’t just choose one; we build them together.
Browse our cases
Justice means uncovering the truth and demanding accountability.Iliana Konidaris · On the Ethical Culture Fieldston School case, 2025
Hundreds of millions recovered. Precedent that changed the law.
This is not a new practice. For 30 years, our lawyers have taken on the most powerful institutions in American life: universities, national fraternities, school districts, and online platforms.
That record stands behind each and every survivor we represent in New York.
The man I would run to as though my hair were on fire.
A New York office with national reach.
Our New York cases cluster across the city and the wider Northeast, and each one draws on the firm’s experience in cases across the country.
Questions we get
from New York.
Can I reach out for my child or someone I love?
Yes. A parent can reach out for a child, and anyone can ask questions for someone they love. When the victim is an adult, the decision to bring a case stays with them, and we speak with them directly before anything moves forward. If your family lost someone, we can explain who is able to bring a case forward.
How long do I have to file a case in New York?
It depends on what happened and where. New York City has a Gender-Motivated Violence Act lookback window that closes July 29, 2027. Statewide, the Child Victims Act can allow filing until age 55 for abuse before 18, depending on when it happened, and adults have different deadlines. A claim against a public school district or a city agency can require written notice within 90 days, though not for abuse that happened before 18. Consult with us to understand the deadlines for your potential claims and the options you may have.
Does it matter where in New York it happened?
Sometimes a great deal. If what happened to you occurred in New York City, or has enough of a connection to the city, you may have claims under the Gender-Motivated Violence Act or the New York City Human Rights Law. The Child Victims Act, the state's college rules, and the notice requirements for public schools and agencies apply statewide. Tell us the county or the campus, and we will tell you which laws are in play.
Do you only take cases in New York City?
No. Our New York cases reach across the state, from Cornell in Ithaca and SUNY Geneseo to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx. Beyond New York, the firm takes cases nationwide, from hazing deaths to a wrongful-death suit against the telehealth platform Hims. Our case map shows where.
Can the institution be held responsible?
Often, yes. When an online platform, hotel, employer, or school advertised the abuse, profited from it, or ignored it, the institution can be held liable alongside the person who caused the harm. New York City's amended Gender-Motivated Violence Act now lets survivors name institutions that enabled violence. For harassment at work, New York's Human Rights Law covers employers of every size. Whether it applies to you depends on what the institution knew and did.
What does it cost to talk to you?
Nothing. The initial case review is free and confidential. We handle many cases on a contingency fee, which means our fee comes out of a recovery. If we do not recover, you do not owe a fee. Costs are explained in writing before you sign anything. Where litigation is not the goal, we also represent and advise clients on an hourly basis.
You can ask a question without telling us what happened.
Start a full case review when you are ready, or simply ask whether the law applies to you. Either way, your message is free and confidential.