Christopher S. Hennessy

Member

Chris focuses his practice on litigation and represents businesses across numerous industries. Chris’s creative, bold, and proactive approach helps his clients stay out of the courtroom when possible, but prepares them for the successful prosecution of their rights or defense of their conduct should litigation become necessary. He also assists his clients with risk management and conflict avoidance, and works with them to understand their businesses from the inside out. This allows him to assist those businesses throughout the gamut of their operations, including drafting and negotiating contracts, employment, and non-disclosure agreements; developing written policies concerning biometric information; assessing insurance and risk management needs; and developing litigation strategies. Chris’s litigation and trial experience enable him to protect the rights of his clients through verdict, and also informs his counseling strategies.

The wide range of Chris's experience is evident from the variety of industries in which he has represented clients. He has represented multiple defendants — both employers and timekeeping technology companies — against alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA). Chris has extensive experience defending timekeeping technology clients and employers in BIPA class actions and employers and businesses in GIPA class actions. He is co-lead counsel on a significant technology-related BIPA class action involving complex issues of federal law preemption and is defending multiple technology providers in complex BIPA class actions. Chris also has consumer product class action experience, including claims of foodborne illness.

Chris has helped clients with ERISA claims brought by union pension and welfare funds alleging improper or insufficient contributions under multi-employer plans and defended employers from wage grievances brought pursuant to collective bargaining agreements. He has assisted clients in several different industries with drafting employment agreements and has successfully pursued the employer’s rights under such agreements. In the construction context, Chris has represented owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals in claims related to construction defects, delays, and construction site injuries. He has both pursued and defended claims under the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act, and has defended professional liability claims against doctors, attorneys, and insurance producers and brokers.

Chris also has significant and varied experience in more traditional litigation involving personal injury and property damage claims, handling those cases from case inception through verdict. He has assisted his clients in the hospitality industry with claims ranging from Dram Shop Act matters to premises liability cases. Chris defended multiple cases — including one for wrongful death — arising out of a Legionella outbreak at a major hotel. He has experience in defending product liability claims that result in both property damage and personal injury, including product failure cases in the plumbing industry and personal injury cases arising out of claims against retailers and manufacturers of dietary supplements. Chris has experience defending companies in cases involving both consumer and occupational exposure to carcinogens, including arsenic, asbestos, benzene, cadmium, diesel engine exhaust, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and silica.

Chris is an accomplished author, contributing two chapters of a book on Illinois construction law (Claims Against Construction Participants and Delay Claims and Damages). He has given presentations to various audiences in the construction industry, discussing purchasing and interpretation of liability insurance for contractors; the insurance industry, teaching claims personnel about early intervention, claim investigation, and litigation; and for design professionals, on the unique issues they face in the construction context. Chris has also published in the area of employment litigation, and is the chair for ABA Section of Litigation’s Employment & Labor Relations Law Newsletter.

Chris graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in communications and received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law in 1996. Chris is licensed to practice before the state and federal courts in Illinois and Arizona, as well as before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Experience

News

Cozen O'Connor Secures First Amendment Victory for Arizona Capitol Times

May 17, 2023

Cozen O'Connor has secured a victory for its client, BridgeTower Media, in a case involving the First Amendment rights of journalists.

Cozen O’Connor Attorney Christopher Hennessy Named Co-Chair of the ABA Section of Litigation, Employment & Labor Relations Law Committee

June 12, 2020

Chicago attorney Christopher Hennessy, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Litigation Department, has been named co-chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Litigation, Employment & Labor Relations Law Committee for the 2020-21 bar year.

Christopher Hennessy, '91, Goes the Distance to Serve Others

December 09, 2019

Chris Hennessy was profiled by his alma mater, Northern Illinois University, in an alumni feature.

Going the Extra Mile

October 11, 2019

Chris Hennessy talks to the Chicago Lawyer magazine about the Chicago Marathon and his role as board president of the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA).

Collaborative Spirit Integral to Upcoming Chicago Marathon

October 09, 2019

Chris Hennessy, in a feature story by the Chicago Suburban Journal & Topics News, draws parallels between his work efforts as a member of the Commercial Litigation practice mentoring younger attorneys and the collaborative efforts required to excel within the running community.

Publications

Christopher Hennessy and Jeremy Glenn contributed an article to the Illinois State Bar Association L&E Newsletter

March 18, 2021

Christopher Hennessy and Jeremy Glenn contributed an article to the Illinois State Bar Association's (ISBA) Labor and Employment Law Newsletter discussing a recent bill introduced in the Illinois Legislature that, if made into law, would rewrite significant aspects of the law of restrictive covenants, particularly those entered into after the effective date of the bill's adoption into law — including barring some altogether.

Illinois Restrictive Covenants Face A Sea Change If Bill Passes

January 19, 2021

Christopher Hennessy and Jeremy Glenn contributed an article to Law360 discussing how on January 8th, a bill was introduced in the Illinois Legislature that, if made into law, would rewrite significant aspects of the law of restrictive covenants entered into after the effective date of its adoption into law, including barring some altogether.

How COVID-19 Might Uproot Centuries Of Litigation Traditions

April 21, 2020

Elisabeth Ross and Christopher Hennessy published an article to Law360 discussing how due to COVID-19 courts, judges and attorneys may have to adapt further or even change the rules of litigation to bring greater flexibility to the way cases are handled.

Telework May Bring Reimbursement Claims For Ill. Employers

April 10, 2020

Christopher Hennessy and Jeremy Glenn published an article to Law360 discussing teleworking and what this might mean for Illinois businesses in terms of expense reimbursement.

Pandemic-Related Funding Options For Ill. Businesses

March 30, 2020

Christopher Hennessy and Jeremy Glenn published an article to Law360 discussing the different programs the state of Illinois has announced to help businesses navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Industry Sectors

Education

  • University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1996
  • Northern Illinois University, B.S., 1991
  • Illinois
  • Arizona
  • Michigan
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court -- Central District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Indiana
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court -- Arizona

American Bar Association 

Co-Chair, Employment & Labor Relations Law Committee