Jonathan R. Cavalier

Jonathan R. Cavalier is a principal in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and a senior member of the firm’s acclaimed Trials & Appeals Practice Group.

Jon is a seasoned trial attorney with deep experience before both judge and jury and has tried cases to verdict in both state and federal court in more than a dozen jurisdictions.  Jon recently received the “Best of the Bar” designation by the Philadelphia Business Journal – one of just two employment litigators city-wide to be recognized as such, and has been named a “BTI Client Service All-Star” – one of only 49 labor and employment lawyers featured on this prestigious, national list.

Jon also has broad litigation experience in prosecuting and defending actions involving noncompetition agreements, restrictive covenants and trade secrets, ERISA class action and single plaintiff litigation, and defending employers from a wide variety of claims of discrimination in state and federal court.  Jon also has extensive experience resolving electronic discovery disputes and advising clients on how to best prepare their systems for e-discovery before litigation arises.

Jon earned his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s University.  In addition to his J.D. from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, Jon holds an M.B.A. from Temple University’s Fox School of Business. As a result, he is especially suited to understand his clients’ needs from a business perspective as well as the economics of litigation and trial, and to finding solutions for clients that are both fiscally and legally sound.

Representative Trial Experience

• Lead trial counsel for Fortune 10 health care company in defense of executive’s COVID-based religious discrimination claim, resulting in a full defense verdict.
• Lead counsel for major pet retail company in defense of employee’s race and disability discrimination claims, resulting in a complete defense verdict after week-long arbitration.
• Lead hearing counsel for publicly-traded financial services company in defense of former employee’s claims for age and sex discrimination and retaliation, resulting in an award fully in favor of defendant.
• Lead trial counsel for publicly-traded, multi-billion dollar technology company in defense of former executive’s sex and age discrimination claims in two-week federal court jury trial, resulting in a complete defense verdict.
• Lead counsel for medi/health spa in defense of trade secret and restrictive covenant claims brought by competitor in bench trial, resulting in defense verdict.
• Lead counsel for national healthspa franchise in multi-week, multi-plaintiff action brought by customer and former employee alleging sexual assault by former employee and wrongful termination, respectively, resulting in defense verdict after two-week jury trial.
• Lead counsel for national non-profit organization in multi-week federal jury trial on claims for sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation brought by former executive, resulting in defense verdict.
• Lead counsel for renowned think tank in multi-week federal jury trial on claims of sexual harassment, sex discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation brought by former director, resulting in complete defense verdict.
• Lead trial counsel in successful defense of collective action brought pursuant to the FLSA by several hundred retail management employees claiming misclassification and seeking unpaid overtime.

Honors and Recognitions

• Philadelphia Business Journal, "Best of the Bar – Employment litigation" (2022)