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sexual assault

Can An Illinois Attorney Have Sex With A Client?

This was almost a one word blog post. The answer is no. But I’ve heard stories of this happening so often in the last year that I thought it was worth expanding on.

When you hire a lawyer (or doctor, psychologist, probably real estate agent, many other professions) to represent you in a case, there is a natural power imbalance. You might be attracted to them. You might like them. You might want to have sex with them or date them. That doesn’t change the fact that the relationship is imbalanced.

Illinois attorney ethical rules are crystal clear that a lawyer can not have any romantic encounters with a client. In fact, if you are representing a client and begin to feel romantic toward them, if you want to date them you have to terminate the attorney/client relationship before that can happen.

We were involved in one case where the client was attracted to her lawyer and began a sexual relationship with him. After a while she felt that he was manipulating her into sex with issues related to her case and personal things that he knew about her. Eventually she felt she couldn’t say no because she had no more money to hire a lawyer and she was worried he’d drop her if she turned him down.

In many situations the sex is taking place in the lawyer’s office. That’s a sure sign that they know what they are doing is wrong. And even if it’s a more proper venue, I assure you that the lawyer knows what they are doing is wrong.

If this happened to you, there are two things you should do:

  1. File a complaint with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, iardc.org which is the disciplinary body for lawyers. If your attorney does this they should lose their license to practice law.
  2. Call us or another law firm to file a lawsuit against the attorney. There action is a version of sexual assault. It would not be a surprise to see a lawsuit result in a settlement or verdict in the six or seven figures depending on the case facts.

If this happened to you, we would be happy to talk to you about if for free and in confidence. There is never a fee on these cases unless we are successful. Please note that there are time limits for filing suit, so time is of the essence. If you’d like to speak with an experienced Illinois attorney, please call us at 312-346-5320.

Chicago Police Are Raping Immigrants

Over the weekend there was an article in the Sun Times that had a headline stating police in Chicago are being investigated for possible improper sexual conduct with immigrants. There are allegations that multiple police officers are having sexual acts with teenage immigrants. One officer is accused of impregnating a teenage girl.

I respect the police, but this favorable headline treatment is ridiculous. These cops are being accused of rape and sexual assault. That’s what it is. If the teens are under 18 it’s statutory rape. If not, do you really believe that these fresh to the country teens are so horny and hot for cops that they voluntarily engaged in sexual acts with them?

Of course they didn’t. There’s a huge power imbalance here. We’ve seen scores of instances across the country, including many in Illinois, where police have pressured women to have sex with them or blatantly raped them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that’s what is happening here.

I hope these immigrants understand that they have rights and that includes the right to sue the police. They can and should do that. This power inbalance is no different than if a lawyer pressured a client for sex or a doctor did that to a patient. It’s not too dissimilar to the power imbalance sexual abuse and hazing allegations recently in the news against Northwestern. We’ve sadly seen those situations many times too and have represented people in all of these types of cases.

Coerced or forced sexual activity is sexual assault. Any officers that did that should be stripped up their police powers and arrested. It puts a huge stain on good cops. Any victim should file a lawsuit and I hope that they recover millions. Them being immigrants doesn’t change their rights in any way and may actually make the situation worse as for some this is their first exposure to the United States.

We have helped hundreds of sexual assault victims with their lawsuits. If you would like to speak with an attorney for free and in confidence you can call us any time at 312-346-5320.

What To Do If A Chicago Police Officer Sexually Abuses You

Police officers in Chicago and most places are for the most part great.  But when you have tens of thousands of them, there are bound to be some bad actors who do bad things.  Given that police have tremendous authority and power, they can do a lot of damage to innocent people.

In the past few months we’ve read a lot about officers in many cities/states who have been accused of sexually abusing people they have arrested and we’ve actively helped people in Chicago and other parts of Illinois who have made similar claims.

The challenge in these cases is that it can be a he said/she said situation and the cops who are scummy enough to do this do it because they believe nobody will believe a “criminal” over a cop.  That’s the mentality we are dealing with. So what should you do if an unethical cop, sheriff or any other officer makes you perform a sex act on them?

  1. Even if you committed a crime that put you in this position, you are still a victim and this officer is a criminal.  File a police report against them as soon as you can.
  2. Go to the hospital as soon as you are able to.  This can help prove what you are saying and enhances your credibility.  There is no such thing as consensual sex between an arresting officer and a defendant.
  3. Preserve any evidence that you can.  In one case, to be graphic, a client spit evidence in to a bottle. A DNA test will lead to an arrest and substantially increase the value of the case because it will take away any ability to deny that it happened.
  4. Remember the body cams.  Some really stupid cops have committed this rape while a body cam was on and/or turned it off without good explanation.

In the big picture, if this happens to you it can seem like an uphill battle, but if you are telling the truth your chances of prevailing both with criminal charges against the scum bag as well as in suing to win a lot of money.  What’s shocking in these cases is how often the person who abuses their authority has a track record of having done terrible things yet still gets to be alone with people to do it again.

If you would like a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL consultation about getting help with one of these cases or anything else, call us any time at (312) 346-5320 or fill out our contact form and we will call you.  You can speak with an experienced lawyer for free, ask questions and get pointed in the right direction.  We help everywhere in Illinois and with sexual assault cases by law enforcement officers we will often help any where in the US.

See also: Can You Record A Police Officer In Illinois?

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