Christine Dunn - Washington, DC

Christine Dunn is the Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight's Washington, DC office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims’ Rights Practice Group.

Since joining Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, Christine has been recognized in the legal community as a Lawyer of Distinction, a four-time Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment and Civil Rights Lawyer, and a Best Lawyer Top-Rated Attorney in “Employment Law – Individuals” and “Litigation – Labor and Employment” in 2025 and 2026. Christine was named a Benchmark Litigation Future Star in 2026 and awarded Profile in Leadership’s Legal Leadership Award in 2025. In 2024, Christine was one of only 15 attorneys selected to The National Law Journal’s Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar; in 2023 and 2025, Lawyer Monthly named Christine Sexual Violence Litigation Lawyer of the Year. In 2023, Christine was named a Plaintiff’s Attorney Trailblazer by The National Law Journal and a Civil Plaintiff Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Washington, DC by National Trial Lawyers. Profiles in Diversity Journal has named Christine a 2022 Woman Worth Watching in Leadership and a 2023 Latino Leader.

Christine’s work to hold the U.S. military civilly liable for incidents of sexual assault and abuse has generated widespread coverage in mainstream media, including People magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Christine is currently representing dozens of former patients of a U.S. Army doctor who was sentenced in 2025 to more than 13 years in prison for sexually abusing servicemembers in his care. Christine also represents a number of survivors of sexual assault at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

At Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, Christine’s practice has also focused on whistleblower/qui tam matters and employment discrimination actions, representing individuals and classes. Christine’s representations have included:

• Litigating and resolving, along with co-counsel, lawsuits against a major shipping company on behalf of two female United States Merchant Marine Academy cadets who were sexually assaulted and sexually harassed while working aboard a commercial ship as part of their “Sea Year” requirement
• Reaching a settlement with boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy on behalf of a former student who was groomed and sexually abused by a longtime math teacher at the school, while also serving as the victim’s advocate during the criminal proceeding against the teacher
• Litigating and negotiating a settlement of $15 million 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 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
• 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 multi-million-dollar settlement under the False Claims Act

A member of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars, Christine received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University. She is a member of the National Hispanic Bar Association.

Christine has conducted presentations on a range of issues related to victim advocacy. She is a board member and head of the Communications Committee at the National Crime Victim Law Institute and a member of the National Crime Victims’ Bar Association.

Before joining Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, Christine completed a clerkship for the Honorable Michael Farrell of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. After her clerkship, Christine joined Williams and 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.