LOCAL Berkeley, CA - UC Berkeley students file complaint on campus sex assaults Thirty-one current and former UC Berkeley students filed a federal complaint Wednesday alleging the university has mishandled sexual assault cases on campus, creating a hostile environment for female students. In a petition to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil...

THE CASE FOR MORAL LAWYERS March 6, 2014 Abstract: The practice of law is not a new concept; it has been practiced in varying forms for 4,500 years.  The concept of a lawyer dates back to the Ancient Roman Empire nearly 2,500 years ago.  It is only during the Middle Ages when the public...

LOCAL San Diego, CA - TIERRASANTA KARATE INSTRUCTOR ACCUSED OF MOLESTING 2 STUDENTS ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL A karate instructor accused of repeatedly molesting two of his teenage students at his Tierrasanta martial arts studio was ordered Thursday to stand trial on more than a dozen felony counts.  Juan Melesio Flores, 38, faces more...

Many survivors of sexual abuse struggle with feelings of isolation, guilt, and shame. These feelings can prevent victims of sexual abuse and molestation from coming forward to hold their abusers accountable in a court of law. The American Psychiatric Association categorizes involvement with the legal process as a stressor. This stress is particularly severe...

LOCAL Bell, CA - LAUSD Drama Teacher Charged With Molesting 2 Male Students 15 Years Ago A Los Angeles Unified high school drama teacher was charged Tuesday with sexually molesting two male students 15 years ago, prosecutors said. Peter Christopher Gomez, 47, is charged with 26 felony counts, including multiple counts of sexual molestation,...

LOCAL Sacramento, CA - Push underway to remove sexual predators from classrooms Removing sexual predators from the classroom is the new push at the state Capitol.  Senate Bill 843, authored by Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, is designed to protect children by making it easier to get rid of teachers who have sex with...

Summary: Scientific study proves that victims of child sexual abuse also suffer physiological effects along with permanent emotional scarring.  Jim Beall did right by proposing Senate Bill 131; it did better by making it to Gov. Brown despite heavy lobbying against the bill by California Republicans and the Catholic Church.  The bill, vetoed by...

Thousands of children require out-of-home foster care for countless reasons. Some children stay in foster care for a few weeks; others stay in foster care for years. Some children return to their biological parents after a stay in foster care, others are adopted, and some transition to independent living.   Regardless of their age or...

About 90 percent of children who are sexually abused know their perpetrators. This includes the local priests children respect and look up to. Even with the high profile cases involving clergy members in the early 2000s and a policy known as the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which is a...

At the beginning of the school year In August of 2012, our client, a 10 year old special needs child, was sexually abused multiple times over a period of weeks by other children on a Folsom Cordova Unified School District Bus. The incidents were discovered only because one of the children set off the...