Ann Olivarius is an American-British lawyer, feminist and advocate for victim's rights.
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Olivarius graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale College before becoming one of the first women to win a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. [1]. In 1977 Olivarius, who was founder of the Yale University women's caucus, was selected as one of 32 American students chosen to become Rhodes Scholars.[2]
After obtaining a prize-winning doctorate in Economics from Oxford , she returned to Yale to become the first person to finish the joint JD-MBA program from the Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management in three years.[3] She is currently the Senior Partner and Chair of McAllister Olivarius, a London-based law firm specializing in US-UK litigation.
While Olivarius was an officer of the Yale Women's Caucus she was approached by approximately 30 women who had experience unwanted sexual advances,[4] and assisted several women who had complained of sexual harassment through meeting with administrators.[5] On 7 July 1977 Olivarius, along with two other students and one faculty member, brought a class action suit against Yale - the case of Alexander v. Yale. The case asserted that, in failing to adopt proper procedures to deal with sexual harassment complaints, the University had discriminated against them on the basis of gender.[6] Olivarius stated that she was subject to threats from the people investigating her complaint of sexual harassment. Her case was dismissed by the Court.[7] However the decision in the case confirmed that sexual harassment was capable of constituting sex discrimination in employment.[8]
In January 2011, Olivarius joined with US lawyer Jeff Anderson in creating a cross-Atlantic litigation firm which focused on civil litigation for victims of religious-based child sexual abuse, with an emphasis on clergy who moved between the UK, US and Ireland during the course of their career.[9][10] Olivarius said that the removal of the statute of limitations in regard to these cases had seen more victims come forward.[11]
In addition to running her legal practice, Olivarius currently serves on the boards of a number of charities, including openDemocracy USA Inc.,[12] Autistica, and GenerationNext!. [13] She also heads The Rhodes Project, a study into the lives and career trajectories of the first generations of female Rhodes Scholars.[14]