Civil Rights Class Action: Framework, Procedures, Litigation

Jennifer A. Riley , Vice Chair of Duane Morris’ Workplace Class Action group, has defended companies faced with significant complex litigation matters for more than two decades. Ms. Riley regularly defends companies facing class actions, collective actions, pattern or practice lawsuits, and other types of representative proceedings, ranging in size from dozens to tens of thousands of claims. Working on the forefront of the developing law in an ever-changing arena, Ms. Riley regularly develops strategies for navigating some of the largest challenges faced by corporate America today and counsels employers confronted with a range of complex theories that span from claims of discrimination or sexual harassment to myriad types of alleged wage & hour and statutory privacy violations. Ms. Riley develops and employs strategies to navigate and to defend complex actions at inception, including strategies to fracture large-scale actions and structure creative solutions. She has represented clients facing bet-the-company cases in a wide range of complex civil litigation matters in federal and state courts across the country.  Ms. Riley defended a nationwide restaurant chain against one of the largest class and collective actions ever filed in the Southern District of New York alleging wage & hour violations on behalf of a nationwide collective action and at least a dozen Rule 23 state law classes.  Ms. Riley defended multiple international staffing and logistics companies faced with nationwide claims for alleged misclassification and failure to pay overtime to various categories of workers across hundreds of work locations.  Ms. Riley defended myriad employers against allegations of nationwide pattern or practice discrimination based on membership in various protected categories challenging their various hiring, promotion, and employment practices.  Ms. Riley has served as trial counsel in federal court bench trials, jury trials and arbitration proceedings. Ms. Riley has defended a multitude of actions by securing dismissal, defeating class or collective action certification, prevailing on summary judgment, and structuring and securing approval of complex and multiparty settlements and consent decrees.  She also provides counsel to employers seeking to navigate thorny issues, including investigations, compliance, and terminations.  Ms. Riley is a regular speaker, author, and presenter regarding class action issues, legal developments, and challenges that companies may face in the future.  Prior to joining Duane Morris LLP, in addition to her commercial litigation experience at one of the nation’s largest law firms, Ms. Riley was in-house counsel for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical and medical device company where she investigated, managed, and resolved a wide range of commercial and employment disputes. Ms. Riley is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 2000) and Vanderbilt University (B.A.,  magna cum laude ).