Chris Helsel is a partner in the firm’s Alexandria, VA and New York, NY offices. His broad practice encompasses a wide range of commercial and business litigation, including the defense of employment, wage and hour, business torts, professional liability, products liability and premises liability actions. In addition to litigation, he provides employment counseling, including conducting training sessions for management on anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation best practices and compliance with federal and state employment law.

Chris also serves on the Board of Directors of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, a local nonprofit that operates an apprentice program to provide a safe haven where at-risk young adults in need of a new start can learn career and life skills through hands-on woodworking and boatbuilding via one-on-one mentoring, personalized instruction, and project-based learning.

Prior to joining O’Hagan Meyer, Chris was a litigation associate in the New York City office of a mid-sized national firm, where his practice focused primarily on the defense of construction accident, product defect, premises liability and maritime actions. Before entering private practice, Chris completed a judicial clerkship with the Hon. Philip J. Maenza, J.S.C., New Jersey Superior Court, Morris/Sussex Vicinage.

Chris is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law. During law school, he represented Villanova at the National Baseball Arbitration Competition in New Orleans and completed a clerkship with the National Football League Management Council in New York City, before going on to earn an LL.M. in International Sports Law from Instituto Superior Dereche y Economia (ISDE) in Madrid, Spain. As an undergraduate at Wesleyan University, Chris played varsity baseball and football and earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies with a focus on U.S. History.