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 Hubble 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 practices in the areas of employment and civil rights and represents a wide range of individuals in difficult employment transitions.
Jennifer has a particular interest in sex discrimination cases, and has handled many high-profile matters involving sex harassment and other gender issues. She also teaches 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 investigations for corporate and public entities.
Jennifer has a successful track record as a trial attorney, including achieving a $1.1 million verdict in the Western District of Michigan in 2012 in a First Amendment retaliation case. In 2020, she along with others, including SPPP lawyers Sarah Prescott and Nakisha Chaney, were named as finalists for Public Justice’s prestigious “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award, for their work in achieving an $80 million dollar settlement with the Michigan Department of Corrections in a case involving the sexual abuse of youthful prisoners.
Prior to Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, Jennifer was a Principal at Nacht, Roumel & Salvatore in Ann Arbor, where she handled employment and civil rights matters. 
She practiced for a number of years 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 she was the first recipient of the Polikoff-Gautreaux fellowship at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest in Chicago, where she worked on public policy issues and impact litigation from 1999-2001.
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.
Awards / Recognition
- Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
- Leaders in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers’ Weekly (2018)
- Top 50 Business Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2018)
- Top 100 Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers –2019)
- Top 50 Women Lawyers in Michigan (Super Lawyers – 2013-present)
- Crain’s Detroit Business & Hour Detroit – Top 50 Women Attorneys in Michigan (2014-present)
- Super Lawyer, 2010-present
- Leading Lawyers – Top 100 Women Lawyers in Michigan (2017-present)
- “Michigan Rising Star,” Super Lawyers Michigan (2009)
- Jean King Leadership Award from Women Lawyers Ass’n of Michigan (2013)
- Mary Foster Award for leadership in the profession, Women Lawyers Assn’ of Michigan (Washtenaw County) (2011)
- 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
- The American Society of Legal Advocates – Top 100 Labor & Employment lawyers in Michigan (2018)
- Ann Dee Harper Memorial Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago (1999)
- Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation
- Leading Lawyers – Top 10 Women Personal Lawyers in Michigan (2020)
Service
- Chair, Miami University Pre-Law Advisory Council (2020-2022)
- Northville Chamber of Commerce Board member (2019-2023)
- Michigan Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Instructions (2020-present)
- Chair, Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Michigan (2018/2019)
- 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
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.