Jonathan S Berkon

Jon Berkon is a partner at Elias Law Group. He focuses his practice on the laws governing state and local elections, ballot initiatives and issue advocacy, helping clients achieve their political and policy objectives in jurisdictions across the country.

Jon is the nation’s leading lawyer for Democratic and progressive organizations working to elect state and local candidates, serving as outside counsel to the Democratic Governors Association, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Democratic Attorneys General Association, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, and countless political organizations and nonprofits in the space. Jon helps his clients organize their fundraising and spending programs to achieve their strategic goals and remain compliant with an ever-increasing web of federal, state and local laws.

Jon has earned the trust of elected officials across the country, working with more than 25 candidates for governor since 2017. Jon regularly obtains favorable opinions for his clients from state and local regulators. And having successfully defended clients in high-profile matters across the country, he understands the practical, real-world implications of the legal choices that clients face and how to communicate his client’s interests to stakeholders and the public at large.

In recent years, Jon has helped candidates prevail in some of the highest-stakes post-election fights across the country. He helped lead teams that defended Governor Cooper’s victory in 2016, the new Virginia House Democratic majorities in 2019, President Biden’s in 2020, and Governor Murphy’s in 2021. A strong advocate for voting rights, Jon has pioneered efforts to ensure that voters have their ballots counted, designing and implementing successful absentee ballot cure programs in states across the country, including the North Carolina program that cut rejection rates from more than 6.1% in 2018 to less than 1% in 2020. Jon regularly writes about, and is quoted in articles regarding, efforts to combat election subversion.

Jon received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2008. He received his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University in 2003.