Kristen L. Zaehringer

• Biography
• News & Insights
• Representative Cases

With a diverse background in complex commercial litigation, Kristen L. Zaehringer represents businesses and individuals in court and advises business owners on questions about contracts, employees, and compliance obligations.

She has handled cases involving disputes among members of closely held businesses, helped investors who were misled by brokers, litigated employment discrimination claims, enforced commercial agreements, secured multi-million prejudgment remedy awards, and counseled corporate officers and attorneys on their fiduciary obligations.

Kristen's practice also involves resolving compliance and ethics issues on her clients' behalf. This work includes counseling attorneys and law firms in legal ethics and litigating malpractice cases in court. Kristen is also a former member of the Federal Grievance Committee, an appointment made by the judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to a panel that hears grievance complaints against lawyers admitted to practice in federal court.

In the employment and human resources context, Kristen regularly counsels clients on a wide variety of issues. Her work includes employment contracts, restrictive covenants, severance agreements, and the implementation of employment manuals, policies and procedures. Kristen regularly represents clients before federal and state administrative agencies including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities.

Dedicated to public service, Kristen is a past member of the Hamden Legislative Council and commits her time to a variety of non-profit entities, including the Board of Directors of Friends of New Haven Legal Assistance Association and the Quinnipiac School of Law Alumni Association. Kristen has served as an attorney volunteer at annual student mock trials sponsored by the District of Connecticut's Public Outreach Committee and has represented veterans and incarcerated individuals on a pro bono basis.

Kristen holds an AV Preeminent Rating with Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by Super Lawyers in various litigation and employment categories since 2013. In 2015, she was selected as one of Fairfield County's Top 40 Business People under 40 and Connecticut Law Tribune's New Leaders in the Law. Kristen's service to the bar includes co-chairing the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association and serving as an appointed member of the Local Civil Rules Advisory Committee of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Recognition

• Best Lawyers in America: Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Labor and Employment 
• AV ® Preeminent ™ Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
• Benchmark Litigation: Future Star
• Connecticut Super Lawyers: Civil Litigation Defense
• District of Connecticut's Pro Bono Award
• Connecticut Super Lawyers Rising Stars: Civil Litigation Defense
• New England Super Lawyers Rising Stars: Civil Litigation
• Fairfield County’s 40 Under 40
• Connecticut Law Tribune New Leaders in the Law
• Leadership Fairfield County Program

Professional Associations

• District of Connecticut Federal Grievance Committee (past member)
• District of Connecticut Local Civil Rules Advisory Committee (past member)
• Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association (past co-chair), Executive Committee Member
• American Bar Foundation, Fellow
• James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
• Raymond Baldwin Inn of Court (past officer)
• Judicial Subcommittee of the Connecticut Bar Association's COVID-19 Task Force
• Federal Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association
• Board of Directors of Quinnipiac University School of Law Alumni Association
• Hamden Legislative Council Member

Pro Bono Activities

• District of Connecticut Public Outreach Committee
• Board of Directors, Friends of New Haven Legal Assistance Association
• Gateway to Practice, Quinnipiac University School of Law

Speaking Engagements

• Gateway to Practice, 2020 to 2024
• Federal Constitutional and Pro Bono Litigation, Panelist, 2024
• Connecticut Written Discovery, Panelist, 2020
• Using Zoom in Federal Courts, Moderator, 2020
• Using Zoom in Federal Courts, Moderator, 2019
• Federal Court Discovery, Moderator, 2019
• Intro. to Connecticut Practice, Panelist, 2018
• Federal Court Pro Bono Appointments Part I, Moderator, 2018
• Federal Court Pro Bono Appointments Part II, Moderator, 2018
• Federal Practice 101, Moderator, 2018
• Developments in Equal Pay Law, Panelist, 2017
• Litigation for Non-Litigators, 2017
• Essentials of Federal Practice, Moderator, 2016
• Rediscovering E-Discovery, Moderator, 2016