Christopher W. Dempsey is the principal of Dempsey Law PLLC and a former trial attorney and supervisory attorney with the Office of Immigration Litigation at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. After more than a decade with the Department of Justice, he retired in 2018 as Chief of the National Security and Affirmative Litigation Unit, where he supervised attorneys handling complex national security and immigration litigation in federal district courts and courts of appeal throughout the United States. In that role, Mr. Dempsey oversaw all national security litigation for an office of more than seventy-five attorneys, regularly trained Department attorneys at the National Advocacy Center and in Washington, D.C., and instructed federal agency attorneys and law enforcement personnel nationwide.

Prior to his service with the Department of Justice, Mr. Dempsey served on active duty with the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and later continued serving in the Army Reserves trying criminal cases. He is also a combat Veteran who deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Mr. Dempsey has extensive federal litigation experience and has appeared in thirty-nine United States District Courts and eight United States Circuit Courts of Appeal. He has tried seventeen jury trials, more than fifty bench trials, and handled dozens of appeals in matters ranging from felony and capital criminal cases to complex civil litigation under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Federal Tort Claims Act, and constitutional tort litigation. His practice has included naturalization and citizenship matters, visa and passport litigation, immigration detention, denaturalization proceedings, habeas corpus actions, emergency injunctive litigation, nationwide class actions, and high-stakes constitutional and administrative law disputes.

Mr. Dempsey is licensed to practice law in Florida and Arkansas and is authorized to practice before all immigration agencies and authorities within the United States. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”), serves as an Executive Director and Chair of the Litigation & Collective Advocacy Committee for the Central Florida Chapter of AILA, and regularly lectures as faculty at national immigration conferences and continuing legal education seminars. He is also an officer on the Board of the Federal Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section and is routinely consulted by attorneys across the nation regarding complex immigration and federal litigation matters.

In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Dempsey remains deeply committed to humanitarian and Veteran advocacy. He co-founded the Consular Accountability Project, a nonprofit initiative supporting strategic federal litigation challenging the doctrine of consular nonreviewability, and served as lead counsel in a flagship challenge before the Supreme Court of the United States. Following the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of coalition forces in 2021, Mr. Dempsey co-founded the Northeast Florida Afghan Response Task Force, which provided pro bono legal assistance to Afghan families seeking humanitarian relief and safety. He also serves as Chief Legal Advisor for Operation Snow Leopard, an organization assisting Afghan allies and their families with resettlement efforts in the United States and abroad.

Mr. Dempsey additionally volunteers assisting disabled and homeless Veterans through several local, national, and international nonprofit organizations. He serves as a Mentor with Veterans Treatment Court for the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Duval County, Florida, and founded Mission-Phoenix, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing pro bono legal assistance to Veterans suffering from PTSD.

Outside the practice of law, Mr. Dempsey is an accomplished endurance athlete who has completed more than twenty-five ultramarathons, including the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning.