Jonathan Sternberg and his team focus their practice exclusively on appellate litigation. Their work encompasses every stage of a case, from advising trial counsel on procedure and strategy to briefing and arguing appeals and related actions. They bring broad experience to difficult problems across a wide range of subject areas.
Jonathan is admitted to all state and federal courts in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois, as well as every federal appellate court nationwide. He frequently appears pro hac vice in other jurisdictions.
In addition to appeals, we also regularly handle related matters, including:
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Assisting trial counsel with motion practice, general research and writing, and issue preservation
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Preparing amicus briefs to voice non-litigants’ perspectives on important matters
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Pursuing extraordinary writs to bring otherwise unappealable issues before appellate courts
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Seeking habeas corpus and other post-conviction relief from criminal convictions and sentences
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Managing post-trial litigation in both civil and criminal cases
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Litigating declaratory actions and other procedures to enforce or challenge a law
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Defending lawyers and judges in disciplinary matters
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Providing expert witness analysis on appellate-related issues and more
Experience
In more than 17 years of practice, Jonathan Sternberg has served as counsel of record in over 225 reported appellate decisions spanning a wide array of subjects. He has successfully handled commercial, constitutional, criminal, employment, estate, family, insurance, tax, and tort matters, among others. Across all his cases involving monetary disputes, the total amount in controversy exceeds $1 billion.
He has written more than 450 appellate briefs and presented more than 200 appellate oral arguments, including 16 before the Supreme Court of Missouri.
His work has included a variety of high-profile cases with high stakes, including:
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Obtaining millions of dollars’ worth of awards on appeal that lower courts had denied
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Upholding millions of dollars’ worth of verdicts challenged on appeal
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Restoring millions of dollars’ worth of verdicts in higher appellate courts after previous adverse appellate rulings
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Securing new trials in both civil and criminal cases
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Achieving outright reversals of felony convictions and sentences
Recognition
Jonathan Sternberg has earned numerous professional accolades for his work, including being by far the youngest of just 14 individuals currently selected to both Thomson Reuters’ and Missouri Lawyers Media’s lists of the top 100 attorneys in Missouri:
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Recognized in 2025 as a regional “Tier 1” Appellate Practice firm by Best Law Firms®, as ranked by U.S. News and Best Lawyers®, one of only four firms in the Kansas City metropolitan area to achieve that ranking.
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Named to Missouri Lawyers Media’s “Top 100 Power List” (2022–2024), and among only ten attorneys selected in any year for appellate law, the youngest to receive that distinction.
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Included on Missouri Lawyers Media’s “Power List” of the “30 most powerful appellate attorneys in Missouri” (2021–2025), the youngest honoree in 2021 and 2022.​
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Listed in Thomson Reuters’ Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers as one of the top 5% of attorneys in Missouri every year since 2014, following prior recognition in its “Rising Stars” list (2010–2013).
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Selected for Super Lawyers’ “Top 100” Missouri & Kansas and “Top 50” Kansas City lists in 2016 and 2019–2024, the youngest attorney on ​either list in 2016 and 2019–2021.
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Named to The Best Lawyers in America© for Appellate Practice annually since 2015, based on peer review as one of the top 5% of attorneys nationwide.
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Awarded Martindale-Hubbell®’s highest peer rating for ethics and ability, AV® Preeminent™, annually since 2012.
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Selected by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as an “Up & Coming Lawyer” in 2009, the only solo practitioner and youngest person (age 27) chosen that year.