The St. Olaf Title IX Working Group has retained two nationally recognized Title IX attorneys from Pepper Hamilton LLP, a Philadelphia-based law firm, to assist in conducting a comprehensive review of St. Olaf’s policies, procedures, and practices. Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie M. Gomez will provide legal advice and recommendations about legal compliance and effective campus policies and practices.

“Gina and Leslie are undisputed experts in this field, and we look forward to their objective review of St. Olaf’s policies, practices, and procedures, and their ongoing counsel and advice in support of the Working Group’s goals,” says Title IX Working Group Chair Tim Maudlin ’73.

A decade ago, Smith founded a practice dedicated to improving institutional responses to sexual and gender-based harassment, sexual violence, interpersonal violence, and child abuse. For nearly two decades before that, Smith was a career sex crimes, child abuse, and homicide prosecutor. Gomez has a similar background, having spent nearly 15 years prosecuting sexual violence, child abuse, and other forms of interpersonal violence.

Together, Smith and Gomez have worked with hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. They regularly advise educational institutions on all aspects of legal compliance with Title IX, the Clery Act, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. Smith and Gomez conduct comprehensive policy audits and assessments, draft policies and procedures, conduct internal investigations, and provide training and education for boards, senior leadership, faculty, staff, and students.

Smith and Gomez are known for their frank and candid assessments of campus practices, their unwavering focus on student welfare, and their ability to assist educational institutions in implementing trauma-informed practices in the context of fair, impartial, and legally compliant policies. Smith and Gomez have conducted independent reviews and policy audits for numerous colleges and universities, including the University of Virginia, Baylor University, the University of Colorado system, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Amherst College, and Grinnell College.