Jon Sasser grew up on a Union County farm, and learned to practice law on Park Avenue. He represents businesses, often Fortune 500 companies, in complex corporate disputes. During the past several months, he has won a $57 million bench trial verdict for corporate espionage by businesses in the People’s Republic of China (North Carolina's largest verdict of 2008), negotiated a $275,000 settlement for a 64-year-old woman banished from public property for alleged “dirty dancing,” and convinced a tribunal to overturn the election of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff (one of the nation’s most powerful, with a $300 million budget).

In trying multi-week jury trials in federal and state court, and arguing numerous appeals in the Fourth Circuit and the appellate courts of North Carolina, he has obtained for his clients eight-figure judgments and settlements, injunctions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a leading decision under the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, the primary decision governing the SEC’s jurisdiction over matters punished by the NASD, the North Carolina precedent restricting who may sue for contamination, a multi-million dollar jury verdict in a single-family drinking water case, a reversal of a death sentence, a $500,000 contempt citation against a New York Times bureau chief, and a decision allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed in a courtroom. Mr. Sasser was recognized in the 2009 edition of Chambers USA for his general commercial litigation work. He was one of two North Carolina lawyers named to the BTI Client Service All Star Team, and has been selected as a North Carolina Super Lawyer, a member of Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite, and one of the Best Lawyers in America. He was named to the Super Lawyers list for 2009 and 2010 for outstanding achievement in his practice areas by Law & Politics, which publishes the annual North Carolina Super Lawyers Magazine.

His clients have included Fortune 500 companies in the industries of chemicals, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, securities, and media/entertainment; Death Row inmates; high school journalists; public officials, hip hop musicians; the ACLU; and the Police Benevolent Association.

Accounts of his cases have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, The ABA Journal, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The University of Georgia Law Review, The Hofstra Law Review, The Loyola (Los Angeles) Law Review, Columbia Journalism Review, and the George Will column. His first federal court cross-examination (July 1986) is reprinted in Margaret Edds’ book An Expendable Man (New York University Press 2003).

In recent years, he has summitted the Grand Teton, Mt. Whitney, and Mt. Baker, completed Ironman Florida, run the Boston Marathon, and finished fourth in his age group in the North Carolina Triathlon Series.

Admissions

• North Carolina, 1981
• New York, 1983
• United States District Courts
  • Northern District of Texas, 1982
  • Southern District of New York, 1983
  • Eastern District of New York, 1983
  • Eastern District of North Carolina, 1986
  • Middle District of North Carolina, 1987
  • Western District of North Carolina, 2000
• United States Supreme Court, 1988
• United States Courts of Appeals
  • Fourth Circuit, 1987
  • Ninth Circuit, 2006

Professional associations and memberships

• Tour de Cure (American Diabetes Association), Co-Chair, 2008
• North Carolina School of Science & Math Foundation, Chair, 2003-2004
• North Carolina Bar Association, Constitutional Law Section, Chair, 2002-2003
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Member, Civil Rules Subcommittee

Prior legal experience

• Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, 1986-2003
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, 1982-1986