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Biography

When crisis comes, Jack Sharman's your experienced ally.

Jack guides corporations and individuals through business crises, civil and criminal white-collar prosecutions, and corporate internal investigations. In an environment of increased uncertainty, regulatory scrutiny and a skeptical public, clients rely on him to respond to and navigate the most difficult circumstances they will ever face.

Jack leads the firm’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Corporate Investigations practice group. He handles and takes to trial matters involving kickback allegations, environmental offenses, public corruption, antitrust and price-fixing charges, gambling, congressional investigations, healthcare fraud and the False Claims Act (FCA). He also has an active civil litigation practice and is on the firm's Marketing & Business Development Committee.

Companies and their decision-makers benefit from the decades of high-profile experience that Jack brings to the table. He served as Special Counsel to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee for the Whitewater investigation involving President Bill Clinton. From 2016-17, Jack was Special Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives for the impeachment investigation of Gov. Robert Bentley. 

Following law school, Jack clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and worked at a Washington, DC-based international law firm. He also taught law as an adjunct professor at Washington & Lee University and the University of Alabama.

Jack often updates his White Collar Wire blog.

Representative Matters

Representing a poultry company executive in an alleged nationwide conspiracy to fix the price of chicken. After indictment, charges dismissed by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.

Conducting an internal investigation of a publicly traded company’s government contracts division in Virginia (with regard to kickbacks) and the company’s law department (with regard to sexual misconduct claims).

Conducting an internal investigation into a Division I men’s basketball program, alongside colleagues in the firm’s NCAA practice.

Representing the former president of a commercial cleaning company in a two-week federal public corruption trial.

Completing multiple internal investigations at the request of a major utility company on a variety of matters including alleged unlawful campaign contributions, violations of state ethics laws, and kickbacks.

Conducting an internal investigation of a financial officer at another utility company whose conduct raised significant Sarbanes-Oxley issues.

Defending an anesthesiologist in a seven-week federal criminal “pill mill” trial.

Advising the owner of a compounding pharmacy with respect to a federal investigation.

Guiding the former chief credit officer of a national bank through parallel grand jury, civil class action, and federal regulatory proceedings. The client not indicted; a civil settlement was reached.

Counseling the regional manager of a large food broker with respect to a federal fraud investigation.

Representing (with local counsel) the CFO of a specialty pharmacy in a federal prosecution under the Anti-Kickback Statute. The case was tried and the client acquitted.

Representing (with co-counsel) a lobbyist in a large public corruption investigation brought by DOJ’s Public Integrity Section that alleged vote-buying in a state legislature. The case was tried and the client acquitted.

Assisting a federal healthcare researcher in a criminal and civil investigation into the loss of computerized health information. The client not indicted or sued.

Representing a lawyer in a three-week public corruption trial.

Counseling a county commission and commissioners subpoenaed as part of a nationwide SEC investigation into interest-rate “swaps” on government bonds.

Representing a senior officer and director of an outpatient healthcare company in parallel civil, criminal, congressional and administrative proceedings. The client was the only senior executive not charged.

Representing the president of a gasoline company in a Clean Air Act grand jury investigation. The client was not indicted.

Assisting a pharmaceutical company in a military criminal investigation. The client and employee were not charged. Convictions on Controlled Substances Acts counts reversed by United States Supreme Court.

Representing an officer of a poultry company in a Clean Water Act case. The Client and employee were not charged.

Conducting an internal investigation for a major insurance company whose Birmingham office director was accused of accepting kickbacks.

Articles

Events

News

Presentations and Publications

Publication, "How White-Collar Attorneys Can Use Mythic Archetypes at Trial," Law360 (2024)

Panelist, “But I’m Not a Criminal!,” ABA International Cartel Workshop, Barcelona, Spain (2024)

Panelist, “High Profile Criminal Cases,” ABA Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute, Atlanta, Georgia (2024)

Panelist, “Lawyers, Guns, and Money,” Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, Nashville, Tennessee (2024)

Reader, “Noir at the Bar,” Birmingham (2024)

Panelist, “Public Corruption,” Washington, D.C. chapter of the Federal Bar Association, Washington, D.C. (2024) 

Presenter, "Impeachment Lessons for Internal Investigations," Lightfoot Client Roundtable, Birmingham (2024)

Publication, “A Refresher on Witness Testimony in 3 Key Settings,” Law360 (2024)

Moderator, “A View from the Bench: Expectations of Judges,” ABA Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute, Atlanta, Georgia (2023)

Presenter, “Five Fatal Mistakes Civil Lawyers Make in Criminal Investigations,” The Network of Trial Law Firms, Denver (2023)

Presenter, “Getting White Collar Crime Right,” Killer Nashville (2023)

Panelist, “Objection”, Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, San Diego (2023)

Publication, “Defense Counsel Sentencing Lessons From Holmes Case,” Law360 (2023)

Publication, “Fraud Study Reflects Juror Assumptions About Intent,” Law360 (2023)

Publication, “12 Summer Reads For White Collar Attorneys,” Law360 (2023)

Panelist, “Representing Individuals,” ABA International Cartel Workshop, Lisbon, Portugal (2022)

Publication, “Mar-A-Lago And The Inherent Problems With DOJ Filter Teams,” Law360 (2022)

Publication, “What Attorneys Can Learn From Harvard Professor’s Conviction,” Law360 (2022)

Panelist, “White Collar Enforcement: What Practitioners Should Look for in 2021 And Beyond,” American Bar Association Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute (2021)

Publication, “Second Circuit Sheldon Silver Opinion May Limit Fraud Prosecution,” Law360 (2020)

Panelist, “Big Data: The Evolution of Health Care, RICO and Money Laundering,” American Bar Association White Collar Crime Institute, Braselton, Georgia (2019)

Presenter, “NCAA’s Adopted Attestation and Certification of Compliance Obligations,” LEAD1 Association (2019)

Publication, “Roger Stone, the Perp Walk, and Shame’s Role in White-Collar Cases,” Bloomberg Law (2019)

Publication, “Staff Depositions And The New Congress’ Investigations,” Law360 (2019)

Presenter, “Impeachment Lessons for Internal Investigations,” Southeastern Business Law Institute (2017)

Presenter, “How Lightfoot lawyers earned their stripes in high-profile government investigations” (2017)

Presenter, “Risk Management Lessons From An Opioid Trial,” Medical Economics (2017)

Presenter, “Sex, Lies, and Audiotape: Lessons for Corporate Investigations,” Kroll, New York, New York (2017)

Publication, “Questioning The Controlled Substances Act After Enmom,” Law360 (2017)

Presenter, “Corporate Internal Investigations,” Alabama Chapter, Association of Corporate Counsel (2016)

Presenter, “Investigations,” Legal Counsel Conference, Birmingham, Alabama (2016)

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