Jack Sheridan received his J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1984. There he was a member of the National Moot Court team and argued in a national law school competition. After graduation, Jack joined the Navy as a lieutenant in the JAG Corps. There he obtained extensive trial experience as a criminal defense lawyer and ultimately headed a trial team in one of the Navy’s largest Navy Legal Services offices. After a stint in Japan as an attorney at a Japanese law firm, in 1992, Jack opened his Seattle law firm, which became known as Sheridan & Associates, P.S. In the late 1990s, Jack briefly left private practice to work as the Seattle Litigation Director of the Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblowers. In 2002, he reopened this firm with Randy Baker as Sheridan & Baker, P.S. Randy left the team and moved on to found his own practice in 2005. Jack continued this practice until 2013. In 2013, Jack briefly tried out partnership again as a partner at MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless. Some of the cases you see on this website are on MHB pleading paper as a result. Jack reopened this practice in August 2014.
Over the years, for the most part, Jack has operated his own law firm, typically with one associate, one paralegal, and one legal secretary. It has proven to be a formula for success. In 2017, those positions are filled by Mark Rose, Ashalee May, and Melanie Kent. Together they are an effective fighting force that routinely takes on big companies and big government in Washington and America, which are represented by the biggest law firms money can buy. The team likes nothing better than representing clients in litigation that holds those companies accountable for their wrongdoing.
Jack is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, the American Bar Association (member Litigation Section), the National Employment Lawyer’s Association, the Washington Employment Lawyers Association, and the Washington State Trial Association for Justice. He is admitted to practice in all courts in Washington State, the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. Federal District Courts in Seattle and Spokane.
In 2014, Jack accepted an invitation to join the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Click here to see the organization website. In 2015, Jack was selected to join the National Association of Distinguished Counsel–top One Percent. Click here to see link to NADC website. In 2015, Jack was listed on Superlawyers–click here to see the link to the Super Lawyer website.
In October and December 2002, Jack and is wife, Angela, ran their first and second marathons. In 2003, Jack broke the four hour mark running the Vermont City Marathon, and again in 2005 running the San Diego Rock’n Roll Marathon. In November 2005, Jack and more than 36,000 other runners finished the New York City Marathon. In September 2006, Jack and his family ran (or walked) the Disney Half Marathon in Anaheim, CA. In July 2007, Angela pulled Jack through the Ride Around Mount Rainier In One Day (RAMROD), which is a one-day bicycle ride that includes 10,000 feet of climbing over a course covering more than 140 miles. In October, Jack ran the Portland Marathon. In January 2008, Jack ran the Orlando Disney Marathon and Angela ran the half. Every year since then, Jack and Angela have run the Disney Half Marathon. Angela is now riding on a bicycle racing team in Seattle. Jack is still running. In 2010, Jack completed the NYC Marathon along with 44,800 other runners and the 2010 Seattle Half Marathon. Jack and his family continue to love outdoor adventures and travel. In 2014 and 2015, Jack ran the Disney Half Marathon in CA with his son and his son’s fiancé. Jack and other family members showed up for the Disney Half in Orlando in January 2017, but it was cancelled owing to lightning; still, a great time with the family. Angela continues to race bicycles.
WHAT INSPIRES ME
April 17, 2015
Jack’s Open Letter to the Washington Employment Lawyers Association upon a judge’s dismissal of another WELA member’s discrimination case before trial
I am inspired by those who came before us. We are walking the same path as the Thurgood Marshalls and the NAACP Legal Defense fund. Their world was a lot harder than ours, but we share with them the fact that these are long battles, and if our clients are right, then it’s worth the fight.
Judges are sometimes the weak link in the system, when they don’t get how financially difficult it is for the little guy to have to delay a case for two years because they didn’t read the law, and we have to appeal their decision, but when we lose at trial and win on appeal, it’s an opportunity to show the judge what he or she did wrong so the judge learns from the mistake and doesn’t repeat the error on the next WELA member. And this is a great time to appeal a bad ruling, since we have a great State Supreme Court for now, and at least our federal appeals are in the 9th Circuit, so take heart. This isn’t personal injury. We don’t live in a world where liability is admitted.
I am inspired by our clients. Unlike some personal injury clients, our clients aren’t asking, “when do I get paid?” They’re asking, “when do I get my day in court?” We are fighting the good fight representing good people against abusive bosses backed by money and power. I can’t think of a better use of our law degrees. We are an elite group of true believers, and we should get together often to celebrate all outcomes, to ease the pain when there is pain, and to share the joy when there is joy, because we are all in this together.
Jack Sheridan