Christopher Van Wagner

Christopher T. Van Wagner is a top-rated criminal defense attorney in Wisconsin with over 30 years of legal experience. With regard to sex crimes as well as vehicular homicide cases, Mr. Van Wagner has an impressive record of achieving positive results for his clients. Mr. Van Wagner has devoted the past 20 years of his practice to defending people charged with serious crimes such as sexual assault. Sexual assault cases are particularly difficult, given the nature of these types of crimes and the automatically negative public reaction to them. However, even if it means taking a sexual assault case to a jury trial, Mr. Van Wagner will ensure that justice is served for his clients.

Mr. Van Wagner brings a wealth of life experiences to his criminal law practice. As one of 11 children, Mr. Van Wagner was raised in a middle-class Irish Catholic family in New Jersey. He remains an avid New York Yankees fan. He attended St. Lawrence University where he earned honors in English Literature. Following his graduation from college, Mr. Van Wagner pursued an Ivy League law degree at Cornell Law School, where he was editor of the presigious Cornell Law Review. Following Cornell Law School (1981), Mr. Van Wagner obtained a coveted slot as clerk for a federal trial judge (Hon. Dick Debevoise, in Trenton, NJ). Following this clerkship, Mr. Van Wagner worked as a state prosecutor for the mean streets of Trenton, NJ, then was a Brooks Bros business litigator for the Fortune 500 clients of a world-renowned Chicago firm, Mayer Brown (on LaSalle Street). Chris later served as a federal prosecutor in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 1994, Mr. Van Wagner went into private practice where to this day he focuses on defending people accused of or convicted of serious crimes like sexual assault, vehicular homicide and the like. By demanding that a jury hear the case, Mr. Van Wagner has achieved many dismissals at the courthouse steps for clients in sex cases. He has gotten many “eve of trial” dismissals precisely because he has tried and won many so jury acquittals in his criminal defense career for clients who were falsely and wrongly accused of sex crimes, and other serious offenses. Not only does he command respect from prosecutors, Mr. Van Wagner also holds an “AV” rating with Martindale Hubbell, the highest peer rating available. He has been recognized numerous times as a Super Lawyer, an honor that applies only to the top 5% of attorneys in the State of Wisconsin. Additionally, Mr. Van Wagner has been a legal analyst and commentator on national shows such as Court TV, the Dan Abrams Report on MSNBC, the Today show, Good Morning America, ABC News as well as local shows such as ABC Madison's Channel 27 and Madison Channel 3000.