ECBAWM partner and civil rights attorney Ilann Maazel was featured on the latest episode of Finding Humanity, a podcast produced by the Humanity Lab Foundation and Hueman Group Media that provides in-depth coverage of complex social and political issues.

In “How a Bullying Survivor Found His Voice: Brandon Farbstein,” Ilann explains how a court would evaluate claims that a school was liable for the bullying or harassment of a student. “Is it severe and pervasive? Did the school have notice? And was the school ‘deliberately indifferent’ in its response, meaning was their response so weak that it allowed the harassment or bullying to continue? And when those things are all true, the school is itself liable for the bullying.”

Though most schools have adopted measures to curtail “in person” bullying, cyberbullying presents additional challenges. “There are two aspects of online bullying that make it very difficult to tackle,” says Ilann. “The first is that it often is anonymous, and it can be very difficult for a school to root out the culprit or the culprits and take action. The second issue is that by its nature, it is pervasive. An anonymous post can be shared with hundreds or thousands of people and that can create a horrible effect that’s much worse than just one or two kids in school. Now, you go to school and (a) have no idea who’s been bullying you, and (b) for all you know, every single person in that hallway or classroom has been sharing that post, and that just makes it devastating.”

Despite these challenges, Ilann says he still feels there is reason for some optimism. “I see hope because judges have kids. Jurors have kids. Our legal system understands that something needs to be done and our legal system is slowly addressing the challenge.”