The University of Virginia will pay $500,000 to an international law firm for the reviews it conducted of the university’s response to a now-discredited gang-rape claim made in an article in Rolling Stone magazine.
The law firm O’Melveny & Myers was hired by the university to look into the specific allegations made in the Rolling Stone article, which claimed that a female student was raped by seven men at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. Two attorneys from Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton LLP have been hired to assess school policies and procedures, the Roanoke Times reports.
Critics of the university’s actions believe that bringing in a law firm to analyze the issues on campus is designed to limit liability rather than bring about a discussion.
The contract for the work to be done by the attorneys from Pepper Hamilton stipulates that all communications must be confidential.