Jennifer B. Salvatore
About Jennifer
With exceptional judgment and compassionate, client-centered advocacy, Jennifer Salvatore is respected as both a formidable adversary and a skilled negotiator able to steer difficult matters towards successful resolution. An AV-rated lawyer (the highest Martindale-Hubbell peer review ranking for ethics and legal ability), and a past Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, Jennifer primarily handles employment and civil rights matters, and is often called on to represent C-suite executives, physicians, lawyers and other professionals in high-stakes disputes.
Jennifer has a particular expertise in sex discrimination cases, and has handled many high-profile and sensitive matters involving sex harassment and other gender issues. She also has taught at the University of Michigan Law School (employment law); is an arbitrator, serving on the American Arbitration Association’s national roster for employment cases; and regularly conducts employment mediations and investigations of workplace issues.
Jennifer also has a successful track record as a trial attorney, including achieving a $1.1 million verdict in the Western District of Michigan in a First Amendment retaliation case. In 2020, she along with others, including SPPP lawyers Sarah Prescott and Nakisha Chaney, was a finalist for Public Justice’s prestigious “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award, for the team’s work in achieving an $80 million settlement with the Michigan Department of Corrections in a case involving the sexual abuse of youthful prisoners.
Jennifer started her legal career in the litigation department at Jenner & Block, LLP in Chicago, where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts for Fortune 500 companies. And from 1999-2001 she worked as the first recipient of the Polikoff-Gautreaux fellowship at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (now known as Impact for Equity) in Chicago, where she focused on public policy issues and impact litigation.
Jennifer graduated with honors from Miami University (Ohio) with a B.A. in Political Science and Journalism. She received her J.D., cum laude, from The University of Michigan Law School, where she was a finalist in the Campbell Moot Court Competition and an editor on the Journal of Law Reform, and the Journal of Gender and the Law.
Awards / Recognition
- Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
- Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation
- Fellow of the Oakland County Bar Association
- Top Ten Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2026)
- Top 100 Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2019 to present)
- Crain’s Detroit Business & Hour Detroit – Top 50 Women Attorneys in Michigan (2014-present)
- Top 50 Women Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2013-present)
- Leaders in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers’ Weekly (2018)
- Top 50 Business Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2018)
- Leading Lawyers – Top 100 Women Lawyers in Michigan (2017-present)
- Jean King Leadership Award from Women Lawyers Ass’n of Michigan (2013)
- Super Lawyer, 2010-present
- Mary Foster Award for leadership in the profession, Women Lawyers Assn’ of Michigan (Washtenaw County) (2011)
- “Michigan Rising Star,” Super Lawyers Michigan (2009)
- Polikoff Gautreaux Fellowship (1999-2001) – Public Interest Fellowship with Chicago’s Business & Professional People for the Public Interest (“BPI”), a nationally prominent law and policy center
- Ann Dee Harper Memorial Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago (1999)
Service
- Michigan Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Instructions (2020-present)
- Eastern District of Michigan Bar Association, co-chair of Women’s Committee (2025-present)
- Miami University Foundation Board, Co-Chair of Governance Committee (2025-present)
- Miami University Pre-Law Advisory Council (2015-2022; Chair 2020-2022)
- Chair, Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Michigan (2018/2019)
- Northville Chamber of Commerce Board member (2019-2023)
- Past President, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (Washtenaw County)
- Leadership Council for the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Michigan (2013 – 2021)
- Advisor to Student Sexual Assault and Harassment Legal Advocacy Services (SAHLAS) — student group at University of Michigan Law School focused on Title IX advocacy
- Past Board member of the Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan
- Personnel Committee for Safe House Center (Ann Arbor)
- ACLU Cooperating Attorney
- Youth Soccer Coach
Teaching / Speaking
Jennifer frequently speaks and writes on employment law, Title IX and other legal issues, with recent topics including sex harassment decisions in the #MeToo era, the Americans with Disabilities Act; Family Responsibilities Discrimination; The Evolution of Sex and Gender Claims; Pregnancy Discrimination; Protecting Client Confidentiality in Litigation; and Issues Facing Low Income Workers. She has taught employment law at the University of Michigan Law School and has presented numerous times for the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section, the State Bar of Michigan, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the National Employment Lawyers Association, and other groups. She has also done trainings for institutional clients and has lectured at Miami University, the University of Michigan Law School, and in the trial advocacy program at the University of Chicago Law School.
Bar Admissions
Jennifer is a member of the Bars of the states of Michigan and Illinois, the 6th and 7th Circuit Courts of Appeal, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan and the Northern District of Illinois.