Jack BartholetAssociate

About

Jack Bartholet is a trial attorney at Greenberg Gross who represents employees, unions, and individuals in complex civil rights, employment, labor, and constitutional matters. He has litigated in state and federal courts across the country, including class and collective actions against some of the world’s largest corporations, and has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of workers challenging powerful employers.

Jack has litigated some of New England’s most closely watched employment and labor matters. His experience includes representing a senior law enforcement official in a high-profile whistleblower retaliation case, defending unions in novel litigation arising from a historic teachers’ strike, and representing scores of employees in widely reported mass arbitration proceedings against a major international company. He has also litigated significant constitutional challenges involving election ballot access under exceptionally demanding timelines. His commentary on Massachusetts public-sector labor law has appeared in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and OnLabor, a leading labor law publication.

At Greenberg Gross, Jack approaches litigation with both trial and appellate strategy in mind, developing cases from the outset with an eye toward the issues that may ultimately determine their outcome. He has twice argued a significant First Amendment case involving the rights of public employees before a federal court of appeals, first before a three-judge panel and again after the full court granted the rare remedy of rehearing en banc to reconsider fundamental questions of constitutional doctrine.

His appellate experience also includes extensive litigation involving the Federal Arbitration Act, including merits briefing before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has briefed and litigated numerous other appeals in state and federal courts across the country involving issues such as employment retaliation, wage theft, labor rights, and constitutional protections.

Jack’s commitment to advocacy for working people began well before he entered private practice. During law school, he externed for the Honorable Morgan Christen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and completed a full-length academic manuscript examining the history and meaning of the Ninth Amendment. He also worked with the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, where he contributed to matters involving civil rights, public policy, and criminal appeals, and spent a summer with a social and economic justice-focused law firm working on complex appellate litigation and labor arbitrations.

Before law school, Jack taught English and U.S. History at a public high school in Massachusetts. He became actively involved with his local teachers’ union and was elected to the statewide Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, New England’s largest labor union. His experience as an educator and union advocate gave him an early understanding of the challenges workers face when confronting institutions with significantly greater resources and power.

Today, that perspective remains central to Jack’s practice at Greenberg Gross. He is committed to using litigation to protect workers and civil rights, challenge abuses of power, and hold institutions accountable. Whether a case is resolved through negotiation, trial, or appeal, Jack brings the same combination of strategic rigor, courtroom advocacy, and commitment to the people he represents.