SCA Advocate of the Year is Risk Taker

Christopher H. Whelan was recently named "Advocate of the Year" by the Sacramento Consumer Attorneys. C. Brooks Cutter, president of that organization said the honor was given, "in recognition of his extraordinary results and intrepid work in advocating the rights of victims in employment discrimination and harassment."

Whelan received a bachelor's degree in economics from UCLA in 1974, and his law degree from Hastings in 1977. Since 1981 his practice has focused on discrimination and defamation in employment.

Whelan has achieved nine verdicts and judgments in employment and defamation cases in excess of one million dollars. In a single nine-month period he received a verdict of $2.6 million for a disability discrimination plaintiff and verdicts for $7.5 million and $2.1 million in separate defamation cases. This series of verdicts was followed a few months later with the conclusion of the punitive damage phase of a $4.3 million dollar sexual harassment verdict against Anheuser Busch, which culminated nine years of litigation. According to Jury Verdicts Weekly this series of verdicts is the second largest number of million dollar plus verdicts ever obtained in one year in California.

Whelan is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association, and for 5 years has been a member of the board of directors of the California Employment Lawyers Association. He is also a member of American Trial Lawyers, Consumer Attorneys of California, Sacramento Consumer Attorneys, and the California State Bar, Employment Section. He is a frequent lecturer throughout the state for these organizations on employment and defamation issues.

Whelan contributed to the defamation section of CEB's publication Wrongful Employment Termination Practice, and is currently working with the Judicial Council on the creation of form discovery for employment cases. For years his article Defamation in Employment has been the underground bible on defamation for most plaintiff's employment attorneys.

Whelan's published opinions include: Krentz v. CIGNA (9th Cir. 1989) 886 F.2d 1177; Page v. Superior Court (1995) 31 Cal. App. 4th 1206; Rains v. Criterion Systems (9th Cir. 1996) 80 F.3d 339 ; Richards v. CH2M Hill (2000) 79 Cal. App.4th 570 (review granted).

Whelan was born in Santa Monica, California and grew up on a farm in the Central Valley learning the art of risk taking, which prepared him well for a life based on contingency fee cases. He has always had an interest in practicing law, as have many members of his family. His oldest sister and brother are attorneys. Two other sisters are teachers, one is married to an attorney, another is married to a professor at Rutgers. His wife Linda, a CPA, has efficiently managed his office for years and tries to keep him organized. When not trying cases, Whelan spends time on his hobbies, which include defamation research, taking depositions and preparing for trial!?!