In an open letter sent to DLA co-chairs Roger Meltzer and Jay Rains, Ms Guerrero detailed that less than two weeks into her new job working for Mr Lehot, in September 2018, she suffered her first sexual assault at his hands, in a hotel room on a business trip to Shanghai. By November, she said she had “endured” two more such assaults – one in Chicago and one in Palo Alto.

“My many attempts to fend off Mr Lehot’s sexual advances failed. Mr Lehot controls my work and my ability to advance. When I dared to tell him to stop, Mr Lehot would refuse to speak to me for weeks, threaten to take me off of client deals, and accuse me of underperformance,” she wrote.

“Horrifically, I later learned that he suggested to numerous men at the firm, and to certain clients, that he and I were involved in a consensual relationship. After months of Mr Lehot’s relentless campaign and physical advances, I began experiencing panic attacks and stress-related medical conditions that landed me in the emergency room several times.”

In less than nine months of working for Mr Lehot, Ms Guerrero continued, she said she had become a shell of her former self.

She said she further asked the co-chairs to be voluntarily released from mandatory arbitration, as “no female working at DLA Piper, whether she works as an administrative assistant, paralegal, departmental staff employee, associate lawyer, contract lawyer, of counsel lawyer, contract partner or equity partner should be forced to litigate claims involving sexual assault and battery or sexual harassment by male lawyers in secret.”

“I experienced such horrific conduct at the hands of a senior male partner and deserve to openly litigate my claims. Female employees at DLA Piper deserve to know about what happened and have access to court filings during my litigation,” she said.

“Release me from forced arbitration and allow me to assert my civil claims for assault, battery, sexual harassment and retaliation in our transparent court system.”
“If you deny me access to court, it will be the women of DLA Piper who pay the consequences.”

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In Ms Guerrero’s filling with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, viewed by Lawyers Weekly, she alleged that Mr Lehot “immediately” subjected her to harm, outlined his “textbook predatory behaviour”, detailed alleged repeated sexual assaults and his “ongoing, deeply perverse conduct”.

In a statement provided to Lawyers Weekly, DLA spokesperson Josh Epstein said: “We are aware of these allegations by one of our partners and take them seriously.”

“As soon as we were notified of the allegations, we took appropriate steps to investigate them. This process is ongoing, and we continue to seek Ms de Verneuil’s cooperation in our investigation,” he wrote.

Ms Guerrero (who is listed on DLA’s website as Vanina de Verneuil) is a partner in the firm’s Silicon Valley office. Her profile on the firm’s site notes that she is a former general counsel who has a “global practice and has worked and lived in Silicon Valley, India, China, Europe, Africa and Latin America.”

“She is passionate about foreign languages and championing human and women’s rights.”