Phone: 216.736.7260 Fax: 216.621.6536 Connect: LinkedIn

Overview

As KJK’s Managing Partner, Jon leads the firm’s experienced team of attorneys and staff in serving a wide array of clients including privately held businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and high net-worth families.

With a sophisticated wealth and risk management practice, Jon manages hundreds of millions of dollars in assets for high net-worth families, including some of the Midwest’s leading philanthropic families. He also uses his business savvy and drive to win for the benefit of companies of all sizes, helping them mitigate risk and create blueprints for growth. Jon is an attorney to whom clients turn for bold leadership in times of crisis, as well as for strategic partnership for the future.

Jon also has comprehensive experience in real estate development, construction and property management, acquisition and financing of properties across the country, as well as construction agreements, construction financing and landlord-tenant agreements. Jon started his career as a litigator handling high-profile complex cases on behalf of publicly-traded companies. Today, he assists his privately-held clients in managing “bet the business” complex cases and investigations around the country.

A committed civic leader, Jon has worked on several major public-private projects. He spent ten years attempting to secure a national political convention and worked tirelessly on the prior unsuccessful bids in 2008 and 2012. In 2014, he authored the winning 345-page bid to ultimately host the 2016 Republican National Convention and served as the General Counsel, Secretary and Treasurer for the Host Committee. That civic spirit extends into his numerous board leadership roles and relentless drive to move Northeast Ohio forward.

Education

  • Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 2000
  • John Carroll University, B.S., 1997

Civic Involvement

  • Blue Coats (Cuyahoga County), Member
  • Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, Inc., Member of Board of Directors, Secretary, Treasurer and General Counsel
  • Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, Member of Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, Member
  • Destination Cleveland, Member of Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Treasurer and General Counsel (appointed by Mayor Frank G. Jackson, City of Cleveland)
  • FRONT Exhibition Company, Inc., Member of Board of Directors, Secretary, Treasurer and General Counsel
  • Leadership Cleveland Class of 2018
  • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Member of Board of Trustees
  • Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Board of Visitors, Member

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
  • The Eighth District Judicial Conference, Life Member
  • Order of the Barristers, Member
  • Order of the Coif, Member

Bar/Court Admissions

  • Ohio State Courts
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Awards

  • Named to Cleveland Magazine’s Cleveland 500, 2021
  • Named to Crain’s Cleveland Business “Power 150”, 2020
  • Named to Cleveland Magazine’s “Northeast Ohio’s Power 100,” recognizing the 100 most powerful people in Northeast Ohio, 2015 to 2018
  • Named to Crain’s Cleveland Business “Who’s Who in Northeast Ohio,” 2017
  • Selected to Ohio Super Lawyers, 2016-2021
  • Recipient of “Smart 50 Award,” 2016, 2020
  • Ohio Super Lawyer Rising Star, 2009-2015
  • University Hospital’s Distinguished Advisor Award, 2011

Presentations & Publications

Representative Experience

  • Authored the winning 345-page bid to secure the 2016 Republican National Convention for the City of Cleveland and Host Committee
  • Served as General Counsel and lead negotiator for the 2016 Republican National Convention, negotiating more than 300 related contracts and authoring necessary authorizing legislation
  • Serves as a fiduciary/trustee over hundreds of millions of dollars of liquid assets and real estate
  • Built multi-million dollar capital stack and served as lead negotiator for public-private project to construct 200,000-square-foot world headquarters for a leading Cleveland corporation
  • Structured several multi-million-dollar major gifts to and for charitable institutions, including a $42 million gift to construct a world-class cancer hospital
  • Negotiated purchase or sale of multi-family properties in excess of $1 billion over career
  • Negotiated mergers and acquisitions as well as public and private debt and equity financings for middle-market businesses through the Midwest
  • Negotiated purchase or sale of retail real estate properties in excess of $500 million over career
  • Represented some of the Midwest’s largest private employers in “bet the business” litigation and investigations, including successfully heading off an attempt by a competitor to unlawfully influence an investigation by the U.S. Attorney General
  • Serves as general counsel and provides risk, estate, tax and wealth planning counsel to high net-worth families, managing hundreds of millions of dollars in client assets
  • Defended a New York-based public company in a several hundred million dollar securities class action
  • Served as one of the lead trial attorneys in the prosecution of a related high-profile malpractice claim against the company’s former “big four” auditor that resulted in a multi-million dollar out-of-court settlement that was covered by the Wall Street Journal and other major publications
  • Served as general counsel for several major private-public projects and initiatives through the Northeast Ohio region

Media Mentions

Related Practices