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. For the last three years, he has been voted by his peers as one of the Super Lawyers’ top ten lawyers in North Carolina (ranked second in 2013).

In the past year, he has successfully argued against a preliminary injunction that would have prevented a Fortune 20 client from consummating an $80 million transaction, won a $650,000 jury verdict, and argued against the media's efforts to obtain a client's cell phone records. 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 a $57 million verdict for corporate espionage (North Carolina's largest verdict of 2008), injunctions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a leading decision under the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, a decision overturning the election of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff, a decision governing the SEC's jurisdiction over matters punished by the NASD, a North Carolina precedent restricting who may sue for contamination, a $275,000 settlement for a 64-year-old woman banished from public property for alleged "dirty dancing," a $2.5 million 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 2011 and 2012 editions of Chambers USA for his general commercial litigation work. He was one of two North Carolina lawyers named to a BTI Client Service All Star Team, and is perennially 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 2012 Securities Lawyer of the Year for Litigation by Best Lawyers.

His clients have included Fortune 500 companies in the industries of chemicals, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, securities, and media/entertainment; a former NFL head coach, 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).

He has summited the Grand Teton, Mt. Whitney, and Mt. Baker, and completed Ironman Florida, Ironman Arizona, and the Boston Marathon. In 2012 age group competitions, he won state championships in the 1500-meter and 3000-meter runs, finished seventh in the nation in the 1650-yard freestyle, ranked fifth in the nation in the aquathlon, and placed 28th at the World Triathlon Championships in Aukland, New Zealand.

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