The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund was created by a group of nationally recognized lawyers and advocates to provide pro bono defense to women facing the risk of legal retaliation for telling their stories in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Often these women were threatened by their assaulters with defamation suits, which they could not afford to defend. Partner Liz McNamara volunteered to handle one such case, that of a young, up-and-coming female comic. Associates Jack Browning and Abigail Everdell joined the defense effort.
The client was threatened with a defamation suit by a more established male comic, who accused her of having made a “false rape allegation” against him. The DWT team prepared a letter to the male comic’s lawyer, citing extensive documentation of the client's consistent, honest, and credible statements regarding what had happened between her and the male comic. As a result, the male comic abandoned any further steps toward suing.