Jack is a partner whose practice focuses on toxic torts, white-collar criminal matters and electronic discovery issues. After practicing in Washington, D.C., he joined the firm in 1995.
In the environmental and toxic-tort area, Jack has represented a variety of industries and businesses for more than fifteen years in state and federal courts in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and the District of Columbia. He has extensive experience defending personal injury and property damage claims involving facilities in the chemical, petrochemical, nuclear, wood-treatment and pulp-and-paper industries. He has also served as counsel to plaintiffs and defendants in private, governmental and citizen suits under CERCLA, RCRA and other federal and state statutes, natural-gas disputes and in Superfund and RCRA negotiations and remediations.
On the white-collar side, Jack has experience in corporate internal investigations, grand jury investigations, defense of criminal environmental offenses, due diligence issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Congressional investigations, election contests, defense of health-care entities in civil and criminal matters, including Medicare fraud and qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act, and investigations by military officials.
As a lawyer in the firm's Electronic Discovery and Digital Information practice, Jack has represented clients in a host of electronic-information issues pre-trial, at trial and on appeal. He is a frequent speaker on electronic discovery.
A member of the bars of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the District of Columbia, Jack holds an undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University; graduate degrees from the Institute for European Studies (Geneva, Switzerland) and Washington University in St. Louis; and a law degree from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
A former clerk to Judge David B. Sentelle, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, Jack was a lawyer at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. before becoming Special Counsel to the House Banking Committee. He was Special Counsel to the Committee for its Whitewater investigation, which culminated in four days of nationally-televised hearings in August 1995. He is also a former Adjunct Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University and the University of Alabama. Jack has assisted with a course on Electronic Discovery at Cumberland School of Law.
In addition to being a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Jack is a member of the White Collar Crime Committee of the ABA Section on Criminal Justice, and a member of the Committee on Criminal Litigation of the ABA Section of Litigation. He is a former associate of the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court in Washington, D.C., an Inn devoted solely to white collar fraud matters, and is currently a Barrister of the Birmingham American Inn of Court. A member of the Alabama State Board of Bar Examiners, Jack is also a former Group Chairman of the Birmingham Bar Association 's Grievance Committee. A former president of the Washington & Lee University Alumni Association (1997-1998), Jack remains active in W&L projects. Married, and the father of two children, Jack has served in various lay capacities at his church, and he enjoys refereeing youth lacrosse games.
Seminars, Articles and Speeches :
"Electronic Discovery," Practitioner-In-Residence for seminar held by Judge John Carroll, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama (Fall 2008)
"Electronic Discovery," Pretrial Advocacy Seminar, University of Alabama Law School, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (October 7, 2008)
"Privilege and Ethics," The Basics of Electronic Discovery, Alabama Bar Institute on Continuing Legal Education, Birmingham, Alabama (October 31, 2008)
"Effect of the Subprime Disaster on the Legal Profession," Alabama Bar Institute on Continuing Legal Education, Birmingham, Alabama (October 17, 2008)
"Electronic Douments, But Real Money: Controlling E-Discovery Costs," Network of Trial Law Firms, New York, New York (August 1, 2008)
"New E-Discovery Rules: Emerging Legal Issues," panel member, District of Columbia Judicial Circuit Judicial Conference, Farmington, Pennsylvania (June 4, 2008)
"Public Corruption Cases," White-Collar Crime seminar held by Professor Pam Bucy, University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (January 30, 2008)