Criminal,
Civil Litigation
Oct. 18, 2024
Meet the lawyer behind the LA archdiocese's record sex abuse settlement
Although Margaret Graf lacked litigation experience, she had an ability to work constructively with parties holding diverse interests. She quickly set about professionalizing the church's response to the lawsuits and helped design policies to prevent future instances of sexual abuse in the church.
When the Archdiocese of Los Angeles faced its first wave of sexual abuse cases in the early 2000s, its response to the litigation and the ensuing public relations crisis was driven by a cardinal with a strong instinct for protecting himself, and his unsophisticated general counsel, an obstinate nun who had an equally strong instinct for protecting the cardinal.
In 2003 and deep into the crisis, the archdiocese turned to Margaret G. Graf, a former corporate lawyer from Reed Smith, ...
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