With both sides now publicly represented by high-profile Washington, D.C., law firms, Justin Fairfax’s accuser came forward Wednesday with a detailed account of the alleged sexual assault that has become one of a series of scandals to roil Virginia politics in recent days.

Vanessa Tyson, an associate professor of politics at Scripps College in California, alleges that Fairfax, the state’s lieutenant governor and a partner at Morrison & Foerster, forced her into oral sex during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.