Jennifer A. Riley is a partner in Duane Morris’ Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices and a member of the Illinois, California, and New York bars. She is Vice Chair of the Duane Morris Class Action Defense Team. She has defended complex class actions, collective actions, and other types of representative proceedings across the United States, ranging in size from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of claims, for nearly 25 years. Ms. Riley has defended some of the largest class actions ever filed across the United States, including a class action alleging discrimination in pay and promotion across more than 100,000 female workers and the largest-ever class and collective action filed in the State of New York alleging nationwide wage & hour violations across more than 500 locations. Ms. Riley is an author and co-editor of the Duane Morris Class Action Review, a one-of-its-kind publication reliably cited and sourced across the legal industry. The Review has been cited as “a must-have resource” and as “an essential desk reference for business executives, corporate counsel, and human resources professionals” alike. Ms. Riley is a regular speaker on class action issues, a regular contributor to the Duane Morris Class Action Defense Blog, and the co-host of a weekly podcast, the Duane Morris Class Action Weekly Wire. Ms. Riley has been selected as a “Top 10 Class Action Author” by JD Supra, and recognized in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers. In 2025, Ms. Riley was named an “Employment MVP” by Law360, indicative of being one of the best five employment attorneys in the U.S. Ms. Riley is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 2000) and Vanderbilt University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1997).
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.
Ms. Riley has more than two decades of complex litigation experience. In addition to her experience in private practice, 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 multi-plaintiff, class, and collective claims for products liability, employment discrimination, and fraudulent misrepresentation.
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.
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