Douglas H. Wigdor

About Douglas

It is difficult to imagine another employment lawyer with a comparable record both in the courtroom and at the negotiating table. Mr. Wigdor routinely tries cases to verdict, has won numerous multi-million-dollar verdicts and has been named one of the top 20 employment litigators in the U.S. by Benchmark Litigation. A tireless champion for victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, race discrimination and other workplace misconduct, Mr. Wigdor is a Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Contributor and can often be seen standing up for his clients in TV and radio interviews; he has even appeared in a Netflix film on DSK, a CNN+/HBO docuseries on Rupert Murdoch, and testified before the UK Parliament. His ”pursuit of decency, justice and high-dollar settlements in the #MeToo era has landed Mr. Wigdor on the list of Law360’s Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar,“ according to a profile recognizing Mr. Wigdor as one of the most influential plaintiffs’ lawyers in the U.S. His trial verdicts, arbitration awards and settlements exceed $1 Billion. From Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Harvey Weinstein to the NFL, Mr. Wigdor has been at the forefront of some of the most impactful sexual abuse and employment discrimination cases of the last decade. Named a Top 100 Hollywood Power Lawyer by The Hollywood Reporter and a Top Music Lawyer by Billboard, Mr. Wigdor’s prolific legal career has been covered in feature profiles in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and the London Independent. He has been referred to in these and other major news publications as one of the country’s most high-profile litigators. A former U.S. Senator for New York said of Mr. Wigdor, ”it’s much better to have him on our side than risk sitting across from him.“ Mr. Wigdor ”has levied cases against some of the most powerful players in the business and political worlds — and won,“ according to City & State’s 2021 Law Power 100 list. Some of his notable clients include eight alleged victims of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein (including two women who testified at Weinstein’s criminal rape trial in New York), the hotel maid in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and interim head coach Steve Wilks in a historic race discrimination class action against the NFL, the rape victim in the Delhi Uber case that led to numerous executive resignations, NBA All-Star Charles Oakley in an assault and battery lawsuit involving James Dolan and Madison Square Garden, former Recording Academy President and CEO Deborah Dugan in a sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation case in connection with the Grammy Awards, two women in their claims of sexual abuse by billionaire private equity executive Leon Black, the former chief of staff to ousted WeWork CEO Adam Neumann in a pregnancy discrimination case, multiple clients in the seminal ”shop and frisk“ cases, five award-winning female journalists at NY1 in an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against Charter Communications, countless women in their gender discrimination and sexual harassment claims against their powerful employers, and over 20 employees at Fox News in their claims of sexual harassment, gender and race discrimination and retaliation against the network. Publicity Mr. Wigdor’s high-profile cases are frequently covered in the international news media. Most recently, his representation of Brian Flores and Steve Wilks in a landmark race discrimination class action against the NFL has been discussed in countless television programs and articles, and has received public support from President Joe Biden, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jemele Hill, Don Lemon, Spike Lee, multiple members of Congress and numerous other high-profile individuals. The case has been widely heralded as a historic reckoning that could finally force the NFL to remedy the lack of Black representation in its coaching and executive ranks. Mr. Wigdor’s successful handling of numerous high-profile cases has resulted in frequent television and radio appearances including Nightline, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS Mornings, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, ESPN and Neil Cavuto as well as regular spots on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, the BBC and NBC News. He is regularly quoted as a legal expert in newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New York Law Journal, New York Magazine, London Times, Daily Telegraph, London Independent, USA Today, New York Post, New York Daily News and many others. In 2020, Mr. Wigdor appeared as the victim’s lawyer in Room 2806: The Accusation, a Netflix original documentary series about the 2011 sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn and in 2022 he appeared in a CNN+/HBO docuseries about Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Wigdor’s extensive litigation experience is frequently distinguished in the media. Notably, in a profile on his career, The New York Times concluded that Mr. Wigdor is ”one of New York City’s most aggressive employment lawyers.“ A sitting U.S. District Judge commented in another profile in the London Independent that ”Mr. Wigdor is a winner.“ And Bloomberg Businessweek, in yet another profile of Mr. Wigdor, described him as among the ”top tier of telegenic anti-discrimination lawyers.“ A different Bloomberg reporter referred to Mr. Wigdor as ”the go-to lawyer in high-profile discrimination cases on Wall Street and in the media“ who is well known for ”hard-knuckle tactics and aggressive public support of his clients.“ In recognition of his work fighting sexual harassment and discrimination at the highest levels of the Media and Entertainment industry, The Hollywood Reporter has named Mr. Wigdor to the Top 100 Hollywood Power Lawyers list, and Billboard has recognized him as a Top Music Lawyer in for the past three years. Mr. Wigdor was named one of New York’s most politically influential lawyers on City & State’s Law Power 100 list. He was also one of only three plaintiffs’ employment attorneys selected to the list of Top 100 attorneys in the New York Metro area by Super Lawyers. The New York Law Journal has featured Mr. Wigdor and Wigdor LLP’s clients in the top New York State verdicts six times, including the number one and two employment verdicts and the number one disability discrimination verdict. Mr. Wigdor and Wigdor LLP have each received coveted Band 1 rankings in Chambers and Partners, one of the most prestigious legal directories in the world. The Firm was also one of only seven law firms nationwide to be nominated for Labor and Employment Law Firm of the Year by Chambers USA in 2022. The Firm has won The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers Awards in the categories of Age Discrimination, Civil Rights, Employment Rights, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Orientation Discrimination and Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar. Education Mr. Wigdor received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, cum laude; a Master’s Degree from Oxford University in England; and his Juris Doctor from Catholic University School of Law in Washington, D.C., graduating in the top of his class. Mr. Wigdor was a senior staff member of the Catholic University Law Review and an editor of the Oxford International Review. While at Oxford, Mr. Wigdor was named Alumnus of the Year in 2007 and 2014 by St Cross College, Oxford and received a coveted ”Full-Blue“ and was a member of the Vincent’s Club. Due to his continued support of Oxford, St Cross College, a library has been named after Mr. Wigdor and his wife — the Douglas and Catherine Wigdor Library.

Practice Areas

Education

• University of Oxford, MA, graduated 1995
• Catholic University of America, JD, graduated 1993
• Washington University in St. Louis, AB, graduated 1990

Bar Admissions

• New York, State Bar
• District of Columbia, District of Columbia
• Pennsylvania, State Bar
• New York, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
• New York, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• New York, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
• United States, U.S. Supreme Court
• United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Courts of England and Wales
• United States, Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Languages