When the disgraced TV star was found guilty of sexual assault, Allred’s clients went from survivors to ‘fighters for change’
I began to represent women who alleged they were victims of Bill Cosby around 2014. Several women contacted me wanting to know what they could do about him. In almost every case it was too late for them to file a lawsuit because of the statute of limitations. However, it wasn’t too late for Andrea Constand, who was represented by another attorney, to have a criminal case filed in Pennsylvania; they had a longer statute of limitations. It ended in a mistrial in 2017, but after the case was refiled, there was a conviction this April [for drugging and sexually assaulting Constand].
I was very pleasantly surprised with the guilty verdict. Shocked, actually, because I have been practising for 42 years and it has become so normal for women not to be believed when they allege they were assaulted, particularly by a rich, famous, powerful celebrity.
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