Jeanne M. Christensen, Employment Attorney in New York

Jeanne M. Christensen is a Partner at Wigdor, and one of the most prominent female employment litigation attorneys, representing clients in individual and class actions in federal and state court, as well as in arbitration. Her tenacious pursuit of justice on behalf of victims has earned praise from both former clients and opposing counsel, who often recommend her to victims seeking highly skilled legal counsel. Jeanne’s practice includes litigating disputes involving sexual harassment, pregnancy and gender discrimination, as well as civil cases involving sexual assault, rape and gender-based violence that occur in connection with work as well as in other contexts. As a result of her and Wigdor’s reputation to litigate aggressively and try cases when necessary, along with Jeanne’s superior negotiating skills, she is regularly able to secure favorable settlements prior to the filling of any lawsuit or other litigation. Jeanne’s trial verdicts, arbitration awards and confidential settlements at Wigdor LLP total well-over one hundred million dollars.

Jeanne’s handling of numerous high-profile employment cases has resulted in frequent media appearances including CNN, Good Morning America, Megyn Kelly Today, Access Hollywood, the BBC, NPR, NBC, ABC, CBS and more.

She is regularly quoted as a legal expert in leading media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, New York Law Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, TIME Magazine, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Financial Times, Barron’s, Law360, The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, Adweek, CNET, Recode and many more. She was profiled in The American Lawyer for her work handling prominent sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases, and authored an op-ed about New York’s landmark passage of the Adult Survivor’s Act, in the New York Daily News.

In connection with #MeToo, she appeared in The Reckoning: Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret, a film about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct.

Recent Representations include:

• Pre-litigation resolution of sexual harassment claims on behalf of a female executive against a global private equity firm.
• Pre-litigation resolution of sexual harassment claims against a top executive at a leading global fashion House.
• Numerous pre-litigation resolutions representing female lawyers with claims against their respective law firms, including for sexual harassment, gender discrimination, pregnancy and maternity leave discrimination.
• Pre-litigation resolution of rape claims on behalf of two victims against a global tech company.
• Pre-litigation resolution of sexual harassment claims on behalf of a female employee against a large global investment banking firm.
• Resolved gender discrimination claims on behalf of female portfolio manager against one of the top 10 banks in the US by assets.
• Pre-litigation resolution of gender and race claims against a global audio streaming and media services company.
• Successful resolutions for claims of sexual harassment on behalf of female employees at a number of global hedge funds based out of NYC.
• Represented a female employee against a well-known hedge fund in a lawsuit that has been lauded by the New York Times as “among the most prominent to accuse a major Wall Street firm of workplace misconduct amid a national reckoning on sexual harassment.” The matter settled following a two-week arbitration hearing on the merits.
• Lead counsel in an arbitration hearing involving sexual harassment claims against a former leading network host.
• Lead counsel in the first nationwide class action filed against Uber on behalf of female passengers alleging they were victims of rape and sexual assault by their Uber drivers.
• Represented a female employee at Amazon alleging systemic race discrimination including “de-leveling” of Black employees into lower paying corporate roles.
• Resolved a pregnancy and gender discrimination claim on behalf of a female account executive against one of the top 10 media outlets in the US.
  

• Lead counsel in a nationwide class action against Sephora on behalf of over seven hundred Asian customers who alleged they were the victims of racial profiling and discrimination.
• Litigation of various race discrimination, hostile work environment and sexual assault lawsuits against Fox News.
• Represented thirteen former and current employees of Fox News, including former news anchor Kelly Wright, who alleged race discrimination against Fox News Network LLC, former Controller and Senior Vice President of Accounting at Fox and Fox’s General Counsel.
• Represented two victims of sexual assault by professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
• Represented a Fox5 reporter in a lawsuit alleging gender and pregnancy discrimination against Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., Fox Entertainment Group LLC, and Fox Television Stations, LLC.
• Represented multiple individual plaintiffs in a racial profiling lawsuit against nationwide retail company

Education

J.D., with honors, University of Maryland School of Law

Maryland Law Review


B.A., cum laude, University of Vermont

Phi Beta Kappa


Awards

Jeanne was a winner of The National Law Journal’s 2024 Elite Women of the Plaintiff’s Bar Award recognizing her work as one of the most influential female plaintiffs’ lawyers on a national level. She also won this award in 2019. For consecutive years, Jeanne has been ranked in Chambers & Partners, a recognition widely considered to be the most rigorous and selective rankings of legal expertise and experience. Jeanne has been recognized as a New York Metro Super Lawyers from 2020, a Best Lawyers since 2021, and has been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Employment Lawyers list for the past 5 years.

Admitted to Practice

• New York
• Maryland
• U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court for Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois