Stephanie K. Wood

Stephanie K. Wood is focused on whistleblower, business tort, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, contract, employment, Qui Tam, and Title IX claims. She believes in speaking truth to power and holding wrongdoers accountable.  The pursuit of justice is a calling for her. Stephanie’s vocation is to be a guide for clients who are traversing challenging, unfamiliar, and high-risk terrain and to make the journey as constructive and cost-effective as possible.  Stephanie has successful national trial experience in several multi-million dollar lawsuits, including achieving a jury verdict of $3.45 million in a whistleblower lawsuit under the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act. She has first chair trial and appellate experience in multiple matters, has successfully settled numerous matters, and has complex class action experience in four multi-district litigations. Stephanie is available to consider co-counseling matters headed to trial or for more limited scope advising as a trial consultant or a “brief doctor” for counsel who would like to make their court presentations and submissions more persuasive.

Education

• American University, Washington College of Law, cum laude
• Colgate University, magna cum laude, Political Science major with honors, English minor

Stephanie is focused on whistleblower, business tort, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, contract, employment, Qui Tam, and Title IX claims. She keenly understands what is persuasive to stakeholders and factfinders and is particularly adept at creating leverage in negotiations and developing effective litigation and trial strategies for clients. She has substantial trial experience in both state and federal courts and has represented clients in courts across the nation (i.e., California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oregon, and Texas).

Stephanie is an avid human rights advocate, which is a passion that began in college and resulted in her honors thesis assessing the global epidemic of gender-based violence.  More recently, she achieved a decision in federal court in Colorado protecting the privacy rights of transgender students and their right to be free from discrimination and harassment. Stephanie also contributed to an amicus curiae brief cited favorably by the 10th Circuit’s opinion reinstating two sexual assault survivors’ Title IX gender discrimination lawsuit against the University of Colorado, which was recognized that year as groundbreaking legal precedent protecting women’s rights. Other recent successes include constructive settlements for whistleblowers, transgender students, and individuals with claims of age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and failure to accommodate. Stephanie is compassionate and trauma informed and trained, all of which are valuable attributes for anyone providing dispute resolution services.

For the first portion of her legal career, Stephanie worked at a large international law firm that is consistently ranked among the top 10 law firms in the United States by The American Lawyer’s A-List. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable J. Frederick Motz at the U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore. During law school, Stephanie clerked for a boutique law firm focused on legal matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and contributed to SCOTUSblog. Also, during law school, she was a summer intern with the U.S. Department of Justice, Constitutional Torts Branch.

Stephanie earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law, in Washington, DC, where she graduated in the top 10% of her class, served as the Associate Executive Editor of American University’s International Law Review, and successfully competed in regional and national moot court competitions. She won first place in the Intra-school Moot Court Competition and was a quarterfinalist in the National First Amendment Moot Court Competition. Stephanie graduated magna cum laude from Colgate University in New York where she wrote front page news for the weekly Maroon-News and successfully competed in national and international debate tournaments, including finishing in the top half at the World Universities Debate Championship in Athens, Greece.

Outside of the office, Stephanie enjoys hiking, yoga, and pickleball. At a certain point, her love of the outdoors motivated her to become a safari guide in South Africa where she created enjoyable and safe experiences for her clients while guiding them through dangerous game territory in open air safari vehicles and on foot.

Associations

• Member, National Employment Lawyers Association
• Member, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association
• Member, Colorado Woman’s Bar Association
• Member, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association
• Member, Colorado Bar Association
• Member, Denver Bar Association
• Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
• Member, Faculty of Federal Advocates
• Former Co-Chair of Career Development Committee, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia

Articles

• Author, “Maximizing Opportunity for Early Constructive Resolution of Litigation” 2-3, Faculty of Federal Advocates (“FFA”) Newsletter, Issue 2023/2 (Fall 2023)

• Author, “Evolving Standards in Sexual Assault Cases” 1-3, FFA Newsletter, Issue 2023/1 (Spring 2023)

• Author, “Lawyers Called Forward to Represent Gender-Based Violence Survivors & Ethics Guidance About Pro Bono Representation” 9-10, FFA Newsletter, Issue 2022/2 (Fall/Winter 2022)

• Author, “A Woman Scorned for the ‘Least Condemned’ War Crime: Precedent and Problems in Prosecuting Rape as a Serious War Crime at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda”13 Columbia Journal of Gender and the Law 274 (cited over 90 times & republished in two online databases), June 1, 2004,

• Credited for research assistance for front-page article, “Documents Reveal Evolution of a Justice [Harry A. Blackmun]” by Linda Greenhouse, The New York Times, Mar. 4, 2004

Presentations

• Presenter, “Safari Litigation: Using Authenticity, Creativity & Ingenuity to Feel Better and to Achieve Your Goals More Consistently,” 2025 Annual Retreat, Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association, Beaver Creek, Co., August 15, 2025

• Presenter, “Show, Don’t Tell: Demonstratives & Visual Aids for Every Stage of a Client’s Case,” 2025 Annual Convention, National Employment Lawyers Association, Baltimore, Md., June 28, 2025

• Guest Lecturer, “Allowing for Cultural Diversity While Achieving Your Client’s Objectives,” Int’l Bus. Litig., Georgetown Univ. Law Center, Washington, DC, July 12, 2017

• Guest Lecturer, program for Rwandan lawyers regarding effective negotiation and enforcement of mining contracts with Chinese investors hosted by Minister of Justice, Kigali, Rwanda, May 24 – June 1, 2013

• Guest Lecturer, “Precedent and Problems in Prosecuting Serious War Crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,” Stanford University Law School, Stanford, CA, March 13, 2004