Jon Bernhardt is of counsel in the Litigation Department and a member of the Complex Commercial Litigation Group and Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense Group. His practice includes commercial litigation and criminal and regulatory defense.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Bernhardt has focused his practice on developing cases for trial in several federal and state courts. Mr. Bernhardt has experience in complex commercial litigation, including business torts, trade secret misappropriation, partnership disputes, director and officer liability, breach of contract, and real estate disputes.
Mr. Bernhardt also has represented several clients in white collar criminal proceedings and enforcement proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulatory agencies.
Representative Matters
- Represented limited partners in a real estate partnership in claims against a general partner for breach of fiduciary duty and self-dealing in two separate trials in Colorado state court
- Represented a nonprofit health care company in a dispute with members of the company seeking to acquire control of it in a three-week arbitration in Colorado
- Represented a real estate purchaser in Colorado state court in a breach-of-contract case against the seller over the cost of repairing property damage caused by soil conditions; successfully defended the judgment on appeal
- Represented a special sanitation district in a dispute with a neighboring municipality over the formation of a special district through trial in Colorado state court; successfully defended the judgment on appeal
- Represented a manufacturing company in a multiyear trade secret misappropriation prosecution against domestic and foreign competitors in federal court
- Represented a utility company in a multimillion-dollar condemnation proceeding against a landowner in Nevada state court
- Represented a resort developer in disputes brought by purchasers of units who alleged that they were fraudently induced to enter into purchase contracts
- Represented a commercial-property owner in a multimillion-dollar breach-of-lease lawsuit against a tenant in Colorado state court
- Represented a foreign corporation and an American subsidiary in federal court against allegations that they had misappropriated technology
- Represented a foreign game-software developer in a contract dispute with an American distributor in Colorado arbitration
Judicial Clerkships
Hon. William Schwarzer, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 1988-1989