{"id":139364,"date":"2025-12-19T07:54:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/19\/rape-allegation-rocks-major-biglaw-firm\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T07:54:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:54:56","slug":"rape-allegation-rocks-major-biglaw-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/12\/19\/rape-allegation-rocks-major-biglaw-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Rape Allegation Rocks Major Biglaw Firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proceeding under the name Jane Doe, a former associate at DLA Piper has filed suit<\/a> alleging that Brian Biggs, then a partner at the firm, raped her and later escalated the violence by breaking into her home and strangling her. The complaint paints a grim picture of how power imbalances, silence, and allegedly known misconduct can metastasize into something far more dangerous.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, Doe began working at DLA Piper in 2021. Almost immediately, she alleges, Biggs pressured her into drinking heavily with him and into a sexual and romantic relationship. This was not, the suit emphasizes, a relationship between equals. Biggs was not only a senior partner, the complaint also alleges he was her professional mentor, holding significant sway over her career trajectory.<\/p>\n

Doe also alleges Biggs told her that \u201cher first priority was to socialize with him and placate him sexually at the expense of her work and professional obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges that Biggs systematically isolated Doe from others at the firm over an extended period, cutting her off from colleagues and support systems. As per the complaint, \u201cBiggs insisted that he was Plaintiff\u2019 only ally in the Firm, that other partners within the practice group (a) could not be trusted, (b) were not fans of Plaintiff\u2019s work, and (c) looked upon her less favorably than he did.\u201d <\/p>\n

That isolation, the suit claims, culminated in an alleged rape in December 2022 inside the firm\u2019s Wilmington office and later breaking into Doe\u2019s home and attempting to strangle her. Doe alleges she suffered from PTSD as a result of Biggs\u2019s action and eventually forced her to resign. <\/p>\n

The complaint alleges that this behavior was not an aberration. According to the suit, Biggs \u201chad a history of sleeping with his female subordinates,\u201d and that this history was known to his partners at the firm.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit asserts claims against DLA Piper for hostile work environment based on sex, quid pro quo sexual harassment, and retaliation, all arising from Biggs\u2019s alleged conduct as a partner of the firm. It also brings a separate count of assault and battery against Biggs individually.<\/p>\n

A DLA spokesperson said, \u201cThe firm was notified in January 2025 of a romantic relationship between a partner and an associate, which we investigated promptly. The associate made no allegations of rape to the firm. Following the firm\u2019s review, the partner immediately withdrew from the firm; the associate remained employed at the firm until she resigned on December 12. We will address this lawsuit through the appropriate channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to reporting by<\/a> Bloomberg Law, DLA Piper hired an attorney know for crisis management work, Seyfarth\u2019s Camille Olson, after they were notified of Doe\u2019s allegations. <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Rape Allegation Rocks Major Biglaw Firm<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Proceeding under the name Jane Doe, a former associate at DLA Piper has filed suit<\/a> alleging that Brian Biggs, then a partner at the firm, raped her and later escalated the violence by breaking into her home and strangling her. The complaint paints a grim picture of how power imbalances, silence, and allegedly known misconduct can metastasize into something far more dangerous.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, Doe began working at DLA Piper in 2021. Almost immediately, she alleges, Biggs pressured her into drinking heavily with him and into a sexual and romantic relationship. This was not, the suit emphasizes, a relationship between equals. Biggs was not only a senior partner, the complaint also alleges he was her professional mentor, holding significant sway over her career trajectory.<\/p>\n

Doe also alleges Biggs told her that \u201cher first priority was to socialize with him and placate him sexually at the expense of her work and professional obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges that Biggs systematically isolated Doe from others at the firm over an extended period, cutting her off from colleagues and support systems. As per the complaint, \u201cBiggs insisted that he was Plaintiff\u2019 only ally in the Firm, that other partners within the practice group (a) could not be trusted, (b) were not fans of Plaintiff\u2019s work, and (c) looked upon her less favorably than he did.\u201d <\/p>\n

That isolation, the suit claims, culminated in an alleged rape in December 2022 inside the firm\u2019s Wilmington office and later breaking into Doe\u2019s home and attempting to strangle her. Doe alleges she suffered from PTSD as a result of Biggs\u2019s action and eventually forced her to resign. <\/p>\n

The complaint alleges that this behavior was not an aberration. According to the suit, Biggs \u201chad a history of sleeping with his female subordinates,\u201d and that this history was known to his partners at the firm.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit asserts claims against DLA Piper for hostile work environment based on sex, quid pro quo sexual harassment, and retaliation, all arising from Biggs\u2019s alleged conduct as a partner of the firm. It also brings a separate count of assault and battery against Biggs individually.<\/p>\n

A DLA spokesperson said, \u201cThe firm was notified in January 2025 of a romantic relationship between a partner and an associate, which we investigated promptly. The associate made no allegations of rape to the firm. Following the firm\u2019s review, the partner immediately withdrew from the firm; the associate remained employed at the firm until she resigned on December 12. We will address this lawsuit through the appropriate channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to reporting by<\/a> Bloomberg Law, DLA Piper hired an attorney know for crisis management work, Seyfarth\u2019s Camille Olson, after they were notified of Doe\u2019s allegations. <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proceeding under the name Jane Doe, a former associate at DLA Piper has filed suit alleging that Brian Biggs, then a partner at the firm, raped her and later escalated the violence by breaking into her home and strangling her. The complaint paints a grim picture of how power imbalances, silence, and allegedly known misconduct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-UakrUK.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}