Ex-Law Professor Sues Former Students For $108M Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

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What was he thinking?

Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright has now sued two of his former students for defamation after they came forward with allegations of sexual harassment dating back to their time as 1Ls in Wright’s ASS Law class. He’s looking for $108 million citing lost business.

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Soon after announcing his departure from ASS Law to join the private sector, Cleveland State law professor Crista Laser shared a sketchy experience where Wright seemed to use his position in the academic hiring process to dangle a non-existent job as a segue to propositioning Laser. Soon after, two now-senior Biglaw attorneys shared their stories of Professor Wright drawing them into sexual relationships when they were first-year students and carrying that into their professional lives, using implied leverage over their future career opportunities to keep them involved.

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It then came out that Kirkland & Ellis partner Elyse Dorsey filed a Title IX complaint over these allegations back in 2021.

Represented by Trumpland mainstay Binnall Law Group, Wright’s defamation suit doesn’t try to deny the icky conduct and instead goes right for belittling the women:

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Defendants Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, both scorned, former lovers and law students of Plaintiff Joshua Wright, have embarked on a vendetta to destroy his reputation, portray themselves as #metoo victims, and make a fortune in the process.

It seems Wright is a little confused about how being the #metoo bad guy works, because a professor saying “yeah, I totally screwed around with my 1Ls” is the sort of admission that gets you a good long way there. I mean, they don’t have to “portray themselves as #metoo victims” when your own complaint does it for them.

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As for making “a fortune in the process” — a charge aimed at the notoriously hard up for cash life of a K&E partner — Wright asserts that Dorsey and Landry approached him seeking a multimillion dollar settlement.

After spreading their lies within Mr. Wright’s professional circles, Defendants Dorsey and Landry, through their shared attorney, made a multi-million-dollar demand to keep them from further ruining his reputation with a meritless lawsuit.

Now this is confusing. Because after “spreading their lies” would defeat the whole purpose of an extortion scheme wouldn’t it? Wright’s theory rests on damage to his professional standing, but he’s also saying that damage was already done?

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When Defendant Dorsey describes confronting Mr. Wright about an affair with another former GMU law student, she fails to mention that this person was not just some former GMU student” but was a romantic rival; a woman who also had a long-term on-and-off relationship with Mr. Wright, which had overlapped with Defendant Dorsey’s romantic relationship. Once again, Defendant Dorsey intends to portray Mr. Wright as a sexual predator, but in reality, this is about a love-triangle among consenting adults.

No, it’s about a love-triangle between a teacher and two students (and this is ignoring Landry in all this so more of a love-irregular quadrangle). Wright’s confirming that, as a professor, he was sleeping with at least three GMU students at the same time and thinks that the fact that everyone was legally an adult makes it all cool. But that’s not the only — or maybe even the primary — reason why his business contacts are getting skeeved out.

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The complaint is an astounding monument to one man’s detachment from reality. He seems to think his professional reputation hangs on whether or not he intended to exploit his influence over the careers of his former students for sex. But, in 2023, his professional reputation is toast if clients see him as the sort of law school professor who juggled sexual relationships with multiple first-year students… which, as it happens, is the claim that he’s making the centerpiece of his suit!

Honestly, it’s difficult to imagine a more reputationally damaging account than the one Wright and his lawyers chose to lay out here.

Because reading this complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff… he’s telling the world that he’s a scumbag.

Earlier: Law School’s ‘Restrictions’ On Professor’s Contact With Students During Sexual Harassment Probe Apparently Didn’t Cover Auctioning Off A Date
We Shouldn’t Have To Say This, But Job Interviews Are Not Your Personal Dating App
Sexual Harassment Allegations Mount Against Former FTC Commissioner & Law Professor

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Topics

ASS Law, Law Schools, Sexual Harassment