Jennifer Riley

Ms. Jennifer A. Riley is a partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.  She is a member of the Firm’s Labor & Employment Department and a member of the Firm’s Complex Discrimination Litigation and Wage & Hour Litigation Practice Groups. Ms. Riley practices in the employment litigation area, with a particular emphasis on complex collective and class action proceedings.

She regularly represents companies facing class actions, collective actions, pattern or practice lawsuits, and systemic investigations, involving hundreds to thousands of putative class members. Ms. Riley counsels and defends employers from a range of employment law theories, including claims of race, age, gender, and disability discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and alleged wage and hour violations.

Ms. Riley has extensive commercial litigation experience.  She has represented clients in a wide range of complex civil litigation matters in federal and state courts across the country. She has served as trial counsel in federal court bench trials, jury trials, and arbitration proceedings.

Ms. Riley has secured dismissal of complex and large-scale actions by defeating class or collective action certification, prevailing on summary judgment, and structuring and securing approval of complex and multi-party settlements and consent decrees.

Prior to joining Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Ms. Riley practiced commercial litigation for several years at a Chicago-based Vault 50 firm. In addition to her experience in private practice, prior to joining Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Ms. Riley also worked as in-house counsel for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical and medical device company.

As in-house counsel, Ms. Riley investigated, managed, and resolved a wide range of disputes in the commercial and employment areas, including single and multi-plaintiff discrimination, retaliation, and harassment cases.

Ms. Riley graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1997 with a B.A. in Economics and Anthropology. While pursuing her degree, she conducted field research at archaeological sites in Central America.

Following graduation, Ms. Riley attended the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and graduated with a J.D. in 2000. While at Boalt, Ms. Riley participated in moot court, mock trial team, and was associate editor of the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.

Education:

• J.D., University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) (2000)
  • Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, Associate Editor
  • National Trial Advocacy Competition Team
• B.A., Vanderbilt University, magna cum laude (1997)