Christine Dunn is a Partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp and Co-Chair of the firm’s Criminal/Sexual Violence Practice Group.
Since joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Christine has been recognized in the legal community as a Lawyer of Distinction and as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment & Civil Rights Lawyers.
At Sanford Heisler Sharp, Christine’s practice has focused on criminal/sexual violence cases, whistleblower/qui tam matters, and employment discrimination actions, representing individuals and classes. Christine’s representations have included:
- Litigating on behalf of a certified class of approximately ten thousand African American current, former, and prospective Deputy U.S. Marshals who experienced race discrimination
- Negotiating settlement of more than a million dollars on behalf of a female general counsel of a financial services company who was discriminated against on the basis of her gender
- Negotiating settlement on behalf of a young woman who was sexually assaulted in a residential treatment facility
- Negotiating settlement on behalf of a male client who was sexually assaulted as a child by a teacher at an elite private school
- Litigating on behalf of a female medical student who was sexually assaulted in her apartment building as a result of her landlord’s negligence in failing to repair a known security risk
- Negotiating robust programmatic relief from an elite high school on behalf of a sexual assault survivor
- Protecting the interests and rights of a crime victim during the criminal prosecution of the perpetrator
- Assisting a former employee of a construction and engineering company to obtain a recovery for blowing the whistle on fraud and allowing the government to achieve a $5.65 million settlement under the False Claims Act
Christine received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.
A member of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars, Christine has conducted presentations on a range of issues related to victim advocacy. Christine is also a member of the National Crime Victims’ Bar Association and the National Hispanic Bar Association.
Before joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Christine completed a clerkship for the Honorable Michael Farrell of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. After her clerkship, Christine joined Williams & Connolly LLP as an Associate where she litigated matters involving class action, sexual abuse, accounting fraud, defamation, medical malpractice, contract dispute, and white-collar criminal defense. Christine then worked at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. At the Department of Justice, Christine prosecuted federal civil rights crimes involving official and police misconduct, racially motivated violence, and human trafficking, including sex trafficking. She also conducted extensive grand jury investigations and jury trials throughout the U.S. and made numerous presentations to law enforcement agencies on civil rights issues. Many of Christine’s official and police misconduct prosecutions involved allegations of sexual violence. Christine also completed a detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia where she appeared in court on a daily basis to handle a variety of criminal matters.
When Christine is not lawyering, she enjoys reading, paddle boarding, hiking, yoga, and spending time with her daughter.
