James C. Sargent

As Co-Chairman of Lamb McErlane’s Appellate Advocacy Group and Litigation Department, attorney Jim Sargent has represented major national and multinational manufacturers in litigation and appeals involving class action, product liability, taxation, warranty, fraud, employment and consumer protection law claims.

Named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for appellate law since 2005, Jim’s practice regularly includes commercial contracts, real estate and banking law, construction litigation, restrictive covenants, and employment contracts. Jim also offers mediation services in commercial/construction/business ownership disputes.

A former assistant attorney general of New Hampshire under former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, and former law clerk to Chief Judge Collins Seitz, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Jim commenced practice in the Philadelphia area with Pepper Hamilton, where his work included products liability defense for major drug manufacturers, mass tort claims and construction defect litigation.

Jim is the head of the firm’s Post-Trial and Appellate Advocacy Group. He frequently consults for other law firms, speaks at Bar seminars on preparing briefs and arguments for appeal. Jim is the past chairman of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s (PBA) Amicus Curiae Brief Committee and is past vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Appellate Procedural Rules Committee and has served as expert witness on appellate practice. He is also past vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee. In addition, Jim was an Adjunct Professor at Villanova Law School for ten years.

OTHER PRACTICE AREAS:

• Commercial Contracts
• Construction Litigation
• Restrictive Covenants

ADMISSIONS:

• Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Supreme Court of the United States
• Supreme Court of New Hampshire
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire
• U.S. Court of Claims
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

EDUCATION:

• University of Virginia School of Law, JD
• Law Review, Managing Board
• Yale University, B.A. – Architecture

COMMUNITY SERVICE & AFFILIATIONS:

• Member, Pennsylvania Bar Association’s (PBA) Civility in the Profession Committee
• Member and Past Chairman of the Pennsylvania Bar Association  Amicus Curiae Brief Committee
• Member and Past Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Appellate Advocacy Committee
• Past Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Appellate Procedural Rules Committee
• Past Chairman, Board of Trustees, Chester County Historical Society
• Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA)
• Third Circuit Bar Association
• Chester County Bar Association
• PBA Appellate Advocacy Committee
• ABA Appellate Practice Committee
• S.A.V.E.
• Buck and Doe Conservation Fund
• South Walnut Street Neighborhood Association
• Youth Soccer

AWARDS & RECOGNITION:

• Named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer since 2005
• Named 2019-2024 Best Lawyers in America©
• Named a 2020, 2021, 2022 Main Line Today Top Lawyer
• Named a 2021, 2022 Five-Star/Top Attorney by Suburban Life Magazine
• Recognized as a 2021-2023 “Best Lawyer” in Chester County by the Daily Local News

RECENT CASES:

• Successfully represented a local Pennsylvania college in a Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a Title IX appeal.
• Jim was co-counsel on a class action tuition refund case dismissed in Federal Court, Eastern District of Pa.

PODCAST / RADIO BROADCAST:

• In this legal podcast Lamb McErlane PC partners Jim Sargent and Guy Donatelli discuss the various PA court systems and navigating civil disputes. So You Want to Go to Court…
  
• Eminent Domain in Pennsylvania, click here to listen to the latest Lamb McErlane PC podcast featuring attorneys Jim Sargent & Jim McErlane.

• Employment & the Workplace in a Post-Pandemic World. In this podcast Lamb McErlane PC partners Jim Sargent and Guy Donatelli discuss a post-pandemic world, about how basic concepts of employment already have changed and may change in the future…Click here to listen on Spotify.

• • Mediation Podcast – Listen to Lamb McErlane PC attorneys James C. Sargent & George C. Zumbano discuss the details of Mediation and a Mediator. 

• Do you own a business?  Click here to listen to the ‘Things You Need to Know about Business Divorce’ podcast by Lamb McErlane PC partners Jim Sargent & Guy Donatelli.