LAWSUITS IN THE NEWS
(A Panel Discussion)

Charles Bonner, David J. Llewellyn* and Zenas Baer

Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations,
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 9-11, 1996.

An overview of the legal and constitutional issues presented in the litigation and prosecution of circumcision cases in the United States' courts. Emphasis was on recent jury verdicts, awards and settlements, current cases in litigation, and recently decided appellate cases.

Charles Bonner received his J.D. from New College School of Law of California in 1978. He is a Board Member of Consumers Attorneys of California and of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and is a civil rights and personal injury attorney in private practice in Sausalito, California. Mr. Bonner has successfully represented many for cases botched circumcision, wrongful circumcision, and lack of consent. He consults with attorneys, parents and adult victims throughout the U.S, regarding the prosecution and litigation of circumcision cases. A frequent speaker at conferences and on radio, he has appeared of films and television regarding the legal and constitution issues of circumcision.

David J. Llewellyn, Attorney at Law, graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1979, and practices law in Atlanta, principally in the area of civil litigation. He is the founder and Director of the Atlanta Circumcision Information Center. Mr. Llewellyn is knowledgable in circumcision law.

Zenas Baer, Attorney at Law, practices in Federal and State Courts in northern Minnesota, concentrating on federal civil rights litigation, representing individuals routinely abused by governmental authorities, most often minorities. He has filed the first brief in the national lawsuit challenging on equal protection grounds the North Dakota statute that prohibits female genital mutilation.

*Note: David Llewellyn was replaced by Steven Svoboda on this panel. Steven Svoboda is the founder of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, a non-profit organization.

Return to the Fourth International Symposium page.