Douglas E. Fierberg

Over three decades ago, Douglas E. Fierberg expanded his commercial trial practice in Washington, D.C., to establish the only national legal practice focused on representing victims and survivors of school violence nationwide. The work began on behalf of a high school student who survived brutal sexual assaults in Washington, D.C. by two assailants, and a college student hospitalized after being hazed at Omega Psi Phi Fraternity at the University of Maryland. From there, the practice went to Texas on behalf of four college students killed outside a fraternity house whose chapter president ignored a direct warning from the police the night before to make their operations safer before someone was killed.

What became clear quickly is that the misconduct underlying such tragedies — sexual assaults, brutal hazing, uncontrolled drinking, gun violence — had many things in common: toxic masculinity, insular and unsupervised male groups, and delusions grounded in a patriarchy experienced in shaming survivors and defending perpetrators, conspirators, and negligent institutions in shameful ways. Cases successfully handled by the firm that exemplify such issues include:

• Freshman high school athletes hazed and sodomized by upperclassmen;
• Women sexually assaulted in fraternities that labeled them as “rape bait,” kept scorecards of women assaulted, and advised members to “use more alcohol” to disable women to gain sex;
• Universities that exposed males to dangerous fraternity rituals by tolerating them under the guise that “boys will be boys,” while meting out harsh penalties to sororities that engaged in hazing;
• Celebrities and esteemed members of the clergy who used their power to groom and assault vulnerable women and men;
• Women sexually assaulted at schools by athletes who were allowed to remain on campus afterward; and
• Groundbreaking claims — establishing compelling precedent — against fraternities circumventing the maze of corporate structures and insurance exclusions specifically implemented to deprive victims and survivors of the financial justice they deserve.

Today, the firm and its attorneys constitute the premier national trial practice dedicated to serving victims, families, and survivors. Achievements include hundreds of millions of dollars obtained against fraternities, colleges, schools, students, and other wrongdoers; success representing students and others killed or wounded in mass shootings and women sexually assaulted by powerful persons in entertainment and athletics; victories in Title IX and related proceedings that expelled perpetrators and held institutions financially accountable to survivors; and the establishment of legal precedent in state and federal courts across the country holding colleges, schools, fraternities, and other wrongdoers responsible for campus violence.

Mr. Fierberg served as lead counsel for twenty families affected by the tragic Virginia Tech mass shooting in April 2007, where their loved ones either lost their lives or suffered catastrophic injuries — resulting in a historic settlement with the Commonwealth of Virginia valued at more than $11 million. Since then, he has successfully represented victims of mass shootings at educational institutions and workplaces including the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the Washington Navy Yard (Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters), and the Central Visual and Performing Arts School in St. Louis, Missouri. He additionally acted as lead trial attorney defending Rolling Stone magazine and its founder against multiple defamation claims stemming from an article about fraternity sexual assaults.

An All-State wrestler in high school, Mr. Fierberg was recruited by the University of Michigan and started briefly on the varsity team before realizing — admittedly too late — that the “benefits” of becoming the best at hurting someone else were far outweighed by the personal and academic detriments.