Christopher was born and raised in the Des Moines area. He spent his undergraduate years in Vermillion, South Dakota at the University of South Dakota, where he was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and graduated summa cum laude with a double major in journalism and criminal justice.
Litigation
No one likes a litigator. Rarely are clients happy to call a litigation attorney. But Christopher knows and respects that when clients do contact a litigator, they are often asking for help with their most important concern of the moment. Christopher strives to help clients through the stress and burden of litigation while working toward the best result for each case. Christopher has represented clients in a wide range of complex civil litigation, including contract disputes, business and shareholder right disputes, employment defense, municipal/governmental litigation, covenant not to compete/covenant not to solicit enforcement and defense, putative class actions, and constitutional challenges.
Personal
Christopher was born and raised in the Des Moines area. He spent his undergraduate years in Vermillion, South Dakota at the University of South Dakota and graduated summa cum laude with a double major in journalism and criminal justice.
He returned home to Des Moines to attend Drake University Law School. At Drake Law, Christopher served as a teaching assistant for legal research and writing courses, a research assistant for one of Drake Law’s professors with an emphasis in gaming law, and was research editor for the Drake Law Review. Christopher graduated from Drake Law with highest honors and thereafter clerked for the Honorable Christopher McDonald on the Iowa Court of Appeals.
When not working, Christopher’s life resolves around his family. He is a proud father of two and loves being there to soak up every moment of their lives. He also lives by the mantra of “happy wife, happy life.” From swim lessons to basketball games, backyard squirt gun battles to rainy day board games, and more, he has a good life. Outside family time, Christopher enjoys spending those few, fleeting moments relaxing with a good book, movie, television show, or video game.
Honors and Accomplishments
Christopher has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America®, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch multiple years in the areas of appellate practice, commercial litigation, labor and employment law – management, and labor and employment law – litigation.
Honors and Accomplishments
Christensen v. Catholic Health Initiatives – Iowa Corp.: Age discrimination and contract claims which resulted in summary judgment in favor of our client and discovery sanctions against plaintiff.
Schwartz v. Community 1st Credit Union: Putative class action case challenging particular form of overdraft fees charged by credit union. Iowa’s Business Specialty Court granted a motion to dismiss in favor of our client.
Calkins, III v. Brandt: breach of fiduciary duty and minority shareholder oppression lawsuit that resulted in money judgment for our client after trial.
USA Main 1, LLC v. Merchants Bonding Co.: declaratory judgment and contract dispute case regarding a letter of credit which resulted in summary judgment in our client’s favor.
Razavi v. GreenState Credit Union: Putative class action case challenging overdraft fees charged by credit union. Iowa’s Business Specialty Court granted our client’s motion to dismiss and the case was thereafter settled to gain class-wide preclusive effect.
Minner v. GreenState Credit Union: Putative class action case challenging certain credit union fee practices. Iowa’s Business Specialty Court granted our client’s motion to dismiss based on an arbitration clause in the parties’ contract.
Rock Hard Ventures, L.L.C. v. Escalona Enterprises, L.L.C.: complex commercial dispute raising misappropriation and breach of contract claims and seeking judicial dissolution, member expulsion, injunctive relief. The District Court granted a preliminary injunction in our client’s favor and the matter later resolved.
LS Power Midcontinent, LLC v. State: This case involved an Iowa Constitution Article III, Section 29 challenge to an electric transmission right of first refusal statute, resulting in summary judgment declaring the statute unconstitutional and securing a preliminary and permanent injunction in our client’s favor. The matter involved two successful appeals before Iowa’s Supreme Court.
MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center v. Efstratiadis: Covenant not to compete claim resulting in injunction in our client’s favor.
Site A Landowners v. South Central Regional Airport Agency: This case was originally two cases that were combined on appeal. This case involved a county’s constitutional challenge to an Iowa Code Chapter 28E agreement between the county and two cities purportedly delegating the county’s decision-making authority on eminent domain, road relocation, and zoning to an airport agency effectively controlled by the cities. Iowa’s Supreme Court ruled in our client’s favor, declaring the 28E agreement void and finding legislative decisions cannot be delegated beyond the voter’s control.
Mahaska County Board of Supervisors v. Mahaska County Emergency Management Commission (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022): These cases involved a series of lawsuits successfully challenging Iowa Code Chapter 28E agreements and taxation issues related to county E911 service board and county emergency management committee budgets. These cases also involved successfully defending against mandamus actions seeking to compel our client to impose an unlawful tax. All cases resulted in summary judgment in our client’s favor.
Tharp v. Northwest Bank: Putative class action challenging certain banking fee practices. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa granted a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in our client’s favor.
Publications and Presentations
Matthew C. McDermott & Christopher J. Jessen, At-Will or Something More?: Reasonable Expectations of Continued Employment by Minority Shareholders Post-Baur v. Baur Farms, Inc., 67 Drake L. Rev. 713 (2019).
Presenter, Relationship Status: It’s Complicated. Understanding and Avoiding the Drama of At-Will vs. Lifetime Employment (2018)
Presenter, What’s Yours is Mine: Intellectual Property Issues in the Workplace (2019)
Presenter, Working with Counsel: Ethics, Attorney-Client Privilege, & Investigations (2020)
Presenter, Complete Non-Compete: Dealing with Restrictive Covenants (2021)
Presenter, Privileges Among Internal and External Corporate Counsel (2022)
Presenter, Gone Phishing: Cybersecurity Concerns in the Workplace (2022)
Presenter, Litigating (or Avoiding Litigating) Restrictive Covenants (2023)
Presenter, Negligent Hiring, Supervision, and Retention (2024)
Presenter, Everyone Remain Calm. You’ve Been Sued. Now What? (2025)
Volunteer, Leadership, and Community Experience
- Iowa Legal Aid Foundation Board
- Iowa Legal Aid Equal Justice After Hours Committee