Eric H. Jaso

Counsel
Short Hills

t: 973.218.1111
f: 973.218.1106

ejaso@bsfllp.com

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Areas of Practice

Litigation

Antitrust

Appellate

Constitutional Law and First Amendment / Mass Media

False Claims Act

Health Care

Investigations / Corporate Governance

Securities Litigation

White-Collar /
Business Crimes

Education

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1992

Harvard University, A.B., cum laude, Government, 1989

Language Spoken

Spanish

Clerkships

Hon. Alice M. Batchelder, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1992-1993

Admissions

New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island

United States Supreme Court

United States Courts of Appeals: Third, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Circuits

United States District Courts: Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, District of New Jersey, and the Eastern District of Arkansas

Eric H. Jaso's main practice is complex litigation, focusing on commercial litigation, False Claims Act cases and appellate matters. His practice areas also include criminal matters, government investigations and internal corporate investigations.

Mr. Jaso is a former official of the Justice and Education Departments and former federal prosecutor with extensive and diverse experience in both government service and private practice.

Mr. Jaso served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Newark, New Jersey from 2003 until March 2008. There, Mr. Jaso:

handled a variety of criminal cases both in the Appeals Division and in the Criminal Division, Securities and Health Care Fraud Unit;
conducted a two-month securities fraud jury trial of the former CEO and CFO of a publicly-traded company, which resulted in their conviction on all counts;
investigated and convicted a sophisticated computer hacker who attacked commercial websites and caused significant disruption to internet service in the Philadelphia area;
obtained the conviction of an individual who filed a seven-figure claim with the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, falsely claiming to have been injured in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center;
investigated and convicted doctors who committed Medicare fraud; and
argued a number of cases before federal Courts of Appeals.

In 2002, Mr. Jaso was appointed Counselor to then-Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. In that capacity, Mr. Jaso worked primarily on legislation and policy, including:

the development, passage, and implementation of major laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Protect Act, and the USA Patriot Act, as well as significant Justice Department policy, including the Thompson memorandum on corporate prosecutions;
representing the Justice Department ex officio on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, advocating the Department's position on criminal sentences in key areas such as white-collar crime and terrorism; and
representing the Justice Department before the federal Criminal Rules Committee, the Criminal Justice Section Council of the American Bar Association, and other organizations.

In 2001, Mr. Jaso was appointed Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary and Regulatory Service at the U.S. Department of Education. Managing a staff of over 30 attorneys, his responsibilities and accomplishments included:

implementing the No Child Left Behind Act;
overseeing litigation successfully defending the Department's negotiated-rulemaking processes against challenges from special-interest groups;
reforming student-loan regulations;
requiring "Plain English" text in Department regulations; and
serving as the Department's designated Federalism Official.

In the mid-1990s, Mr. Jaso served as an Associate Independent Counsel in the "Whitewater" investigation in Little Rock, Arkansas. There, he participated in two jury trials (one of which led to the convictions of the sitting Governor of Arkansas and two former Whitewater partners), a number of appeals, and several investigative matters.

Mr. Jaso has also practiced law at Latham & Watkins in Newark, New Jersey, where he worked on both criminal and civil matters as well as corporate internal investigations, and at Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York City, where he focused on civil antitrust cases.

After graduating from Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Jaso clerked for the Hon. Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

He is involved in the leadership of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey (Chair, By-Laws Committee) and the New Jersey Lawyers' Chapter of the Federalist Society (Member, Board of Advisors). He also is an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University Law School, where he teaches Appellate Advocacy.

Selected Professional Awards and Associations

American Bar Association (Co-chair, Sentencing Subcommittee, White Collar Crime Committee; Member, Criminal Justice Section Subcommittee on Corrections and Sentencing)
American Bar Association (Member, Criminal Justice Section Subcommittee on Corrections and Sentencing)
Association of the Federal Bar of the State of New Jersey
Federalist Society (Board of Advisors, New Jersey Lawyers' Chapter)
Historical Society of the U.S. District Court (NJ)
Hispanic National Bar Association
Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey (Chair, By-laws Committee)
John C. Lifland Inn of Court (Master)