Shining Star Celebration

Brad Edwards, Esq.

2026 Leadership Awardee

Brad Edwards is the founding partner of Edwards Henderson and the author of Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein. He is a nationally recognized board-certified civil trial attorney who specializes in providing civil representation for children, survivors of sexual abuse, and victims of violent crimes.

Brad represented the late Virginia Giuffre in her efforts to shine the spotlight on Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s trafficking and sexual abuse of young girls. In her posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre describes Brad as ‘a hero’, her ‘third brother’ and ‘the first lawyer to stand up for me.’

From 2008 through 2019, Brad served as pro bono lead counsel on behalf of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein in the seminal case upholding crime victims’ rights in this country. In 2019, the Federal Judge on the case ruled in favor of the victims, holding that the government had violated the victims’ rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when Epstein entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement without the knowledge of the victims in 2008. In 2023, after relentlessly pursuing justice on behalf of the survivors of Epstein for 15 years, Brad spearheaded unprecedented litigation as lead counsel against the banking institutions that facilitated Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation for decades. The litigation resulted in over $360 million in settlements on behalf of hundreds of survivors from all over the world.

Brad has been recognized as one of the leading trial lawyers in the United States. He obtained one of the Top 50 Verdicts in the United States in 2015, 2016, and 2018. In 2018, Brad attained a $71 million jury verdict which was the largest contested jury verdict in the United States obtained on behalf of a single survivor of sexual abuse. Throughout his career, he has secured over one billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients.

In 2020, Brad was inducted into the prestigious International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Since 2015, the National Association of Distinguished Counsel has recognized Brad as one of the Nation’s Top One Percent. As a result of his resounding work for survivors, Brad was consecutively recognized as the 2020 FJA Jon E. Krupnick Lawyer of the Year and the 2021 Daily Business Review Lawyer of the Year.

Brad was featured in the Netflix series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich, on ABC’s 20/20 Truth & Lies: The Jeffrey Epstein Story, and on Lifetime’s Surviving Jeffrey Epstein because of the groundbreaking work that he performed on behalf of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Brad was the featured legal analyst in the BBC documentary The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool, exposing the decades-long sex-trafficking operation of Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, which led to Brad filing yet another monumental sex trafficking class action lawsuit on behalf of the survivors. He has also been featured on CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, 60 Minutes, and Good Morning Britain.

Brad is on the board of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as well as the National Crime Victim Bar Association.

Asseret Frausto, Esq.

2026 Shining Star Awardee

Asseret Frausto is a Partner at McDermott, Will & Schulte focusing on high-stakes commercial litigation and government and internal investigations, including complex trial and appellate matters in federal and state courts across the country. Asseret also maintains a robust pro bono practice representing survivors in asylum immigration proceedings and through VRLC.

As a pro bono attorney for VRLC, Asseret has been a champion of privacy rights for sexual assault survivors. In 2025 she secured a landmark victory protecting a minor sexual assault survivor’s mental health records from improper disclosure. The decision carries far-reaching implications for how Massachusetts courts safeguard the privacy of minor survivors, reinforcing the principle that survivors should be able to seek counseling without fear that their most sensitive records will be weaponized against them.

Prior to joining McDermott, Asseret clerked for the Honorable Mary H. Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable John A. Mendez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes with Sean Ouellette, Esq.

2026 Champion Awardees

Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes is a nationally recognized trial and litigation firm specializing in complex commercial disputes, bankruptcy and restructuring, and white-collar matters for clients facing high-stakes legal challenges. The firm is dedicated to the craft of trial lawyering. It has been consistently recognized by Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, Chambers & Partners, Lawdragon, Legal 500, and Octus for delivering exceptional results and being a trusted legal advisor for clients.

The award will be accepted by Partners Jonathan Friedman and Reid Skibell.

Sean Ouellette is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. Previously, Sean was a senior attorney at Public Justice, where he litigated cases about civil rights in schools and access to justice. Before that, Sean was a senior litigation counsel at the law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp, where he litigated civil rights cases and class actions on behalf of workers and students.

In March 2025, this team filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on behalf of VRLC and three families following the decimation of the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The Trump Administration dramatically reduced the office’s workforce and closed 7 regional offices, including Boston. These cuts significantly impacted student-survivors of sexual assault and their families because OCR now lacked the resources and staff it needed to comply with its mandate to protect students’ civil rights. After an incredible oral argument led by Sean, the federal court issued a preliminary injunction halting the reduction in force. While it was later overturned, it delayed the reduction in force long enough for other cases moving through the courts to deem the Trump Administration’s actions unlawful.

A VRLC Client

2026 Courage Awardee