Legal Insights 2024: Key Issues in Sexual Violence Law

Date: April 25, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm (EST) / 11:00 am (CST) / 10:00 am (MST) / 9:00 am (PST)
Location: Zoom

In recognition of the 2024 Sexual Assault Awareness Month theme “Building Connected Communities,” Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) is convening a national audience for our virtual panel on key issues in sexual violence law, which will highlight national experts and provide key updates that you should know. Topics will include: Title IX and what students and educators should expect from the new regulations; defamation law and how to manage the continuing threat of perpetrators suing victims and the case trends; stalking laws and how they can be a tool to prevent sexual violence; and the intersection of reproductive rights and rape. This free educational event is offered to our community by the organization that hosts the only National Sexual Violence Law Conference.

Panel Moderator: Stacy Malone, Esq., VRLC’s Executive Director, is a rape survivor who has dedicated her career to increasing legal access to sexual assault survivors. Her essay, “The Power of Survivor-Defined Justice,” is in the anthology Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World. 

Panelists:

Amanda Walsh, Esq., VRLC’s Deputy Director for External Affairs, is a national expert in Title IX and issues impacting student-survivors of sexual assault in both K-12 and higher education settings. A former Title IX coordinator, she has trained thousands of campus administrators and provides ongoing technical assistance to legal advocates and attorneys. Amanda continues to represent sexual assault victims in Title IX investigations, special education matters, and school safety issues.  

Stephanie Friends Holt, Esq., VRLC’s Deputy Director for Operations, has helped hundreds of sexual assault survivors navigate their employment concerns as well as their privacy and safety needs. Stephanie frequently counsels survivors who are threatened by perpetrators with defamation lawsuits intended to intimidate and silence them from sharing their experiences.  

Kelsey Worline, Esq., VRLC’s Managing Attorney, oversees the organization’s legal team of attorneys and paralegals in Massachusetts who serve over 700 sexual assault survivors each year. Kelsey has led the expansion of legal services to protect stalking survivors from sexual violence in cases involving sexualized threats.  

Jaime Watson, Esq., is Policy Counsel at Reproductive Equity Now where she develops legislative and administrative strategies to bolster access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care in New England. Prior to becoming an attorney, Jaime worked as a domestic violence legal advocate at a domestic violence shelter in her home state of Arizona and as a policy advocate where she led statewide advocacy efforts to address sexual and intimate partner violence.  

Please join us for a 60-minute panel followed by a 20-minute Question & Answer session. Advance registration is required. 

We look forward to seeing you there!