Law Schools

Law Professor Who Slept With 1Ls Now Seeks Piece Of ASS Law

Former professor sues law school claiming that the probe into his sleeping with students is the REAL sexual harassment.

By  
on
Lawsuit Document

(Image via Getty)

Joshua Wright, formerly of the institution we all know as the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University — ASS Law, as it’s commonly known — has filed a lawsuit against his ex-employer for unspecified damages arising from the sexual harassment HE allegedly suffered when the school chose to investigate a complaint brought by one of the students Wright started sleeping with as a 1L .

Not “allegedly” started sleeping with as a 1L because Wright has already filed a lawsuit where he admits to sleeping with 1Ls.

Wright, a former FTC Commissioner, left his job for what he characterized as greener pastures in the private sector earlier this year. Almost immediately after that announcement, Kirkland & Ellis partner Elyse Dorsey and Freshfields counsel Angela Landry spoke with Law360 recounting their experiences alleging that Wright started sleeping with them as 1Ls and used professional carrots and sticks to keep the relationships going. In fact, Dorsey’s Title IX complaint against Wright likely hastened his decision to leave the school.

At that point, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108M in a defamation case where he admitted that he was sleeping with them as 1Ls. He even alleged that Dorsey got mad at him because he was sleeping with yet another law student. As defamation claims go, Wright might be misunderstanding what part of the story makes him look bad.

And now he’s suing ASS Law itself and the complaint… doesn’t make him look any better.

George Mason University would rather lose in court than lose in the press. In its handling of false misconduct allegations against Mr. Wright, the University repeatedly and flagrantly violated Title IX regulations and its own policies. In a dear showing of bias, the University hosted Mr. Wright’s false accuser as a #metoo speaker on campus, paid her and her co-conspirator hundreds of thousands of dollars each, made public statements in support of her and against. Mr. Wright, retaliated against him for his lawsuit, and used different standards when deciding whether to allow his complaint to go forward against his accuser, resulting in the dismissal of his complaint. In other words, the University repeatedly put its thumb on the scale in favor of the female complainant instead of ensuring fairness, due process, and even applying its own policies. Accordingly, Mr. Wright brings this complaint for violations of Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Petition Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and for breach of contract.

Sponsored

It’s sexual harassment against him for investigating sexual harassment by him? Where would someone find a lawyer willing to pursue tripe like that?

*checks signature block*

Ah, the Binnall Law Group. You may remember Jesse Binnall from such cautionary tales as serving as Sidney Powell’s sidekick on some of her high-profile misadventures and filing loony claims against the January 6 Committee. This complaint fits snugly in the firm’s wheelhouse.

You know you’re in for a truly special filing when the description of the parties seeks to hype up Wright’s hitherto sterling reputation and this is actually the only specific citation they can come up with:

In 2014, the Federalist Society awarded Mr. Wright the Paul M. Bator Award, a national award given annually to a law professor under the age of forty who has “demonstrated excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact.”

Sponsored

Ah, well, if Brett Kavanaugh’s sponsors approve then who are we to doubt this guy?

There are a lot of claims in this thing but they mostly boil down to alleging that  that but-for his being a man, the school wouldn’t be inclined to believe his accusers. Occam’s Razor suggests that it’s probably “but-for” the fact that the school actually believes them, a conclusion that trips up Wright because he spends the complaint quibbling over the “who dumped who when” part when the school is much more concerned with the “professor using his station to sleep his way through whole classes at a time” part.

It’s easy to conclude that an angry dragon is eating the sun when you don’t want to be bothered to learn about astronomy.

166. Whereas the University indicated to Mr. Wright that it had no “jurisdiction” to pursue his formal complaint because Ms. Dorsey was not “enrolled or employed,” it pursued Ms. Dorsey’s formal complaint against Mr. Wright even though he was not “enrolled or employed.”

167. This disparate treatment was caused by Mr. Wright’s sex.

No, it wasn’t! Wright was employed by the university at the time of the complaint. He acknowledges that the complaint was filed back in 2021. His collateral attack Title IX complaint against Dorsey turned on the claim that she had some sort of loose agreement to monitor an online class — if that class ever got offered — which doesn’t make her an employee. This disparate treatment was caused by Mr. Wright being a full professor when Dorsey wasn’t.

But also his collateral attack was dumb. He argues that being accused of sexual harassment is on the basis of sex. But while the object of the harassment is being mistreated on the basis on sex, the harasser isn’t cabined by sex.

He hangs a lot on the university failing to have specific language prohibiting sex with students at the time as a “get out of harassment free” card. Honestly, if he’d engaged in a single affair then maybe he could dismiss all the claims that he used his influence to advance (and then not advance) the student’s career as a natural side effect of a committed relationship. But when he’s admitting to multiple overlapping relationships — going so far as to brag in his own complaint about inviting conflict between “romantic rival(s)” — it becomes a lot harder to see any perks or withdrawals as heartfelt as opposed to the currency in an environment of exchange that he fostered.

Which, you know, would transform consensual relationships that the school hadn’t explicitly banned into an abuse of authority in the eyes of… well, most people.

Everything this guy alleges against in his filings makes him look worse. On the other hand, good judgment isn’t how one gets in this position.

Full complaint on the next page…

Earlier: 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
Ex-Law Professor Sues Former Students For $108M Over Sexual Harassment Allegations
Law School’s ‘Restrictions’ On Professor’s Contact With Students During Sexual Harassment Probe Apparently Didn’t Cover Auctioning Off A Date
SOMEONE Keeps Editing Joshua Wright’s Wikipedia Page To Downplay The Whole ‘Sleeping With 1Ls’ Thing

HeadshotJoe 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.

1 2Next »

Topics

, , ,