Christopher H. Whelan

Thirty-five years of practice in California. Thirty-two years specializing in Plaintiff-side employment and defamation trials and litigation. A-V rated for over a decade.


Awards and Recognition: Northern California “Super Lawyer” since 2005; a “Best Lawyer in Sacramento — Labor and Employment Law” since 2006. Top 25 Lawyers of Sacramento 2013; Recognized in 2009 in Daily Journal as one of the Top 10 Plaintiff’s Employment Lawyers in California; Best Lawyers in America since 2006; Authored numerous articles of defamation and employment issues; Frequent lecturer on defamation, employment and trial practice for NELA, CELA, CAOC, CCTLA, ABOTA and California State Bar.

Professional Contributions: The defamation section of Wrongful Employment Termination Practice, CEB; participated in creating the California Judicial Council Employment Form Interrogatories; 2013 Contributing Editor to Chapter 5 (Employment Tort Claims), The Rutter Group’s, California Practice Guide: Employment Litigation.

Trial Work: Twelve jury verdicts/judgments in excess of 1 million dollars including: $1.1M Johnson v. EBI (defamation/wrongful Termination); $1.4M Wilson v. Continental Cable (defamation/wrongful termination); $7.5 Boucher v. Foundation Health (defamation); $2.1M Hernandez v. Thasos (defamation); $2.6M Richards v. CH2MHill (verdict and fees) (disability); $4.3M Wallace and Vannucci v. Anheuser Busch (multi-plaintiff/verdict sexual harassment); $1.35M Bebensee v. Accubanc (verdict and fees) (Sex harassment); $2.6M Mullins v. CalFarm (Lab. Code 970); $19M Roby v. McKesson HBOC (disability), one of the top 100 verdicts in US in 2004 and the largest disability discrimination/medical leave verdict in California history; Johnson v. Sears $8.4 ($5.2M verdict, $3.2M fees). This record included three (3) million dollar plus verdicts in one year.