Jonathan D. Plaut is licensed to practice law both in Massachusetts and New York and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Business Law Council of the MBA.  Jonathan lectures on Business Litigation at the Massachusetts Bar Association, and he has taught law courses as Tufts University and Boston College.  Jonathan also speaks fluent Japanese and represents a number of Japanese businesses in a wide variety of legal matters.  Jonathan’s practice focuses on business and litigation, including commercial litigation, personal injury, attorney malpractice suits, criminal defense and governmental investigations, international litigation, entertainment disputes and Federal Civil Rights cases. Jonathan has conducted over 100 jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations including as a criminal prosecutor for Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Jonathan has appeared before a host of tribunals including the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, the New York Supreme Court, the Rhode Island Superior Court (pro hac vice), the Massachusetts Superior Court, the New Hampshire Probate Court (pro hac vice), FINRA, the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, many professional mediators and others.

Jonathan is the author of the 2021 Amazon #1 new release in litigation, I’ll Take The Case, a book of his 18 most interesting cases.

Some recent cases include:

• Multi-million dollar verdict (after a five week jury trial) against a major bank which had given unauthorized access to its customer’s credit line, causing the business to fail.
• Products liability lawsuit against a major doughnut store chain (hard plastic baked into bagel resulted in broken teeth).
• Many large personal injury and attorney malpractice verdicts and settlements.
• Represented many professionals in front of their regulatory boards accused of not upholding professional standards (including attorneys, physicians, teachers, accountants, physical therapists and chiropractors).
• Securities FINRA arbitration against a major U.S. brokerage firm.
• Sued a major sneaker and apparel company for breach of contract arising out of hospitality services at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
• Cases involving trade secrets, management contract breaches and fraud.
• Several appellate arguments in probate litigation and constitutional law cases.
• Successfully won an inmate’s freedom after more than one year imprisonment on the grounds of government’s violation of the so-called “Bruton” Constitutional rule. (In Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (1968), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a defendant’s 6th Amendment confrontation clause rights are violated when a nontestifying codefendant’s confession naming the defendant as a participant in the crime is introduced at their joint trial, even if the jury is instructed to consider the confession only against the codefendant).
• Federal appellate litigation involving law school accreditation.
• Represented former members of rock supergroups Black Sabbath, Quiet Riot and Rainbow in record company contract disputes and negotiations.
• Represented probate executors, administrators, legatees and beneficiaries in disputes of wills and trusts.
• Represented numerous Japanese citizens and businesses, speaking only Japanese, in a variety of matters including corporation formation, civil lawsuits, criminal defense and governmental investigations.
• Real estate and zoning code disputes, business and partnership dissolution cases, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and unfair and deceptive business practices litigation.
• Criminal defense including cocaine trafficking, Federal immigration visa fraud, conspiracy, bribery, insurance billing fraud, assault and battery, motor vehicle offenses, breach of the public trust, and domestic violence cases.
• Civil rights cases, including race and gender discrimination.
• Litigation involving the music and movie industries and “A-list” celebrity spokesperson contracts.
• Cases involving professional boxing and professional horseracing.

Jonathan is a graduate of Tufts University and Boston College Law School.  Jonathan plays guitar and bass guitar and is the lead singer for the rock band, Jane’s Great Dane (www.JanesGreatDane.com). He has played music at many venues throughout the Northeast including with Carmine and Vinnie Appice (of Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck fame), and he played viola for Michelle Shocked during seven of her shows in the Northeast. Jonathan is on the Board of the Jewish National Fund. He finds inspiration in the John Holmes quotation, “This is the world, the Kingdom I was looking for” and does his best to try to make the world a better place. Jonathan lives in Boston, Massachusetts.