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Jay Saxon

Of Counsel

Jay Saxon is of counsel in Baker Donelson's Birmingham office and a member of the Complex Litigation & Class Actions Group.

Professional Biography


Clients trust Mr. Saxon to guide them through complex legal matters. He has substantial experience in litigation, including in the areas of hospitality, franchise, personal injury and wrongful death, employee discrimination, the Lanham Act, government investigations, and general commercial litigation. Mr. Saxon has consistently provided exceptional legal services to his clients, routinely obtaining dismissal or summary judgment in complex cases, and he has prevailed in numerous oral arguments in state circuit court, federal district court, and before the Eleventh Circuit. In his former role as an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Saxon regularly handled prisoner litigation and affirmative enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). On the latter, he personally negotiated the two largest civil settlements in Alabama history for opioid-related violations of the CSA. He also has experience handling corporate transactions, including a focus on the financing of renewable energy projects.

Mr. Saxon draws on his diverse legal and international background in his zealous representation of his clients. Prior to joining Baker Donelson, he practiced in the New York office of a large London-based law firm with a global presence on six continents. In that role, he routinely worked with intercontinental teams of lawyers across multiple offices, counseling both foreign and domestic clients. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in the Civil Division from 2016 to 2022. Prior to his government service, Mr. Saxon was a plaintiffs' attorney in private practice – invaluable exposure that permits him to bring his knowledge of plaintiffs' strategies and tactics to his present, defense-focused practice. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Inge P. Johnson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Mr. Saxon also has many years of experience abroad. Prior to law school, he served as a transactional legal assistant in the Budapest, Hungary, office of White & Case LLP, where his team was responsible for reviewing, editing, and approving a substantial majority of all written documents authored in English by non-native speakers. Mr. Saxon earned a Master of Arts in International Relations and European Studies, with merit, during his three-year stay in Hungary as a graduate student at Central European University, an interdisciplinary university with a diverse international student body representing dozens of countries. During law school, he served as a consultant to the Asia Foundation on a project related to the 2009 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. He resided in Kabul to carry out the project work. An avid traveler and explorer, Mr. Saxon has been to 63 countries on five continents. His substantial international exposure sets him apart from most U.S. litigation attorneys, making him uniquely suited to managing delicate cross-cultural sensitivities and facilitating complex international negotiations.

Mr. Saxon has served as an on-site international election observer on three continents, including:

  • the 2006 federal elections in Ukraine, where he served with an observation mission based in Kyiv and observed the election in the mid-size central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy (Ukrainian: Черкаси);
  • the 2009 parliamentary elections in Kabul, Afghanistan; and
  • the 2016 presidential/congressional election in the United States, where he served as part of an observation team from the U.S. Department of Justice in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
  • Served as lead attorney on two separate cases that resulted in the two largest civil settlements for violations of the Controlled Substances Act in Alabama history.

  • Obtained summary judgment for the defendants in numerous medical malpractice claims.

  • Obtained summary judgment in a complex Title VII/ADA case.

  • Briefed and argued successfully before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, resulting in a published opinion affirming dismissal of the plaintiff's claims for lack of standing.

  • Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum, Class 16 (2022)
  • Birmingham Bar Association Future Leaders Forum (2015 – 2016)
  • Alumni Fellow – University of Alabama Blackburn Institute
  • Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, Budapest, Hungary (2005 – 2006)
  • Eagle Scout

Education

  • University of Alabama School of Law, J.D., 2011, cum laude
    • Executive Editor, Alabama Law Review
  • Central European University, Master of Arts, 2006, with merit
  • Princeton University, B.A., 2005

Admissions

  • Alabama, 2011
  • New York, 2015
  • United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

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