Jay Evans

Jay Evans is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. His practice encompasses a wide array of litigation and appellate matters. He regularly counsels clients on complex issues including products liability, contracts, real estate, trade secrets and restrictive covenants, and other business disputes.

Mr. Evans’ practice includes serving as counsel for companies, particularly automotive and vehicle equipment manufacturers, facing significant litigation matters in the realm of product liability and toxic torts. Jay has represented companies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and across the United States in these complex toxic tort matters. Jay assists companies and individuals in internal investigations and analysis to prepare for or avoid civil or criminal matters. Jay also guides nonprofit organizations through a range of issues, including governance and compliance matters as well as crafting, revising, and implementing contracts and releases.

In his representations, he has handled all aspects of preparing for and litigating various matters, from pleadings and depositions, Frye/Daubert challenges, trials and appeals. A key element of Jay’s practice is his thorough understanding of his clients’ products, businesses, and goals. Jay partners with his clients to craft cost-effective, efficient strategies which will suit their legal and financial objectives. Whether litigating a serious product defect case, negotiating and interpreting contracts, or providing lease advice, he strives to help clients better position themselves in the legal arena and global marketplace by avoiding unnecessary litigation and comprehensively preparing for necessary or inevitable litigation.

News & Publications

•The Potential Impact of Smartphones, Wearable Tech in Personal Injury Cases
•Jay Evans and Michael Williams Named to Schnader Partnership
•NJ Confirms the Court’s Gatekeeper Function and Joins the Slow March Toward State-Court Acceptance of Daubert
•Jay Evans Appointed as Board President for Arcade Comedy Theater
•“North Hills Community Outreach expands presence in Bellevue facility”
•Schnader Helps Secure Victory for Pro Se Incarcerated Defendants
•Third Circuit Appellate Practice Manual (Third Edition)
•Rost May Change the Toxic Tort Landscape
•“The Third Circuit, Notice and Access for Pro Se Prisoners”
•“A View from the Sidelines 2: Oral Arguments and the New Supreme Court”
•Schnader Receives Pennsylvania Youth Court Champion Award
•“Showing and Not Telling in Appellate Advocacy”
•“Rebuttal, Reply, Riposte: A Detailed Discussion”
•Pittsburgh Attorneys Lead Constitution and Youth Court Projects at Local Charter School
•Suggestions for Effective Appellate Oral Argument
•Alice Sacks Johnston and Jay Evans Join Schnader’s Pittsburgh Office
•“The Difficulty of Consistent Application of Supreme Court Precedent”
•“Crafting Arguments With Your Audience in Mind”
•“Despite New Ruling, Discovery of Expert Communication Remains Unclear”
•“Handling an Appeal in a ‘Case in a Box”’
•“Avoiding a Nightmare - Creating a Record to be Proud of”
•“Questioning the Balance Between Dicta and Holding”
•“Predicting the Application of the Restatement (Third) of Torts”
•“Losing One’s Appeal (Before It Starts)”

Community & Pro Bono

Mr. Evans’ community and pro bono focus is on education, outreach, youth, and the proper application of justice. Jay works extensively, as a volunteer and President of the Board of Directors, with the Arcade Comedy Theater’s nonprofit efforts to expand inclusive educational opportunities in comedy and the performing arts, in line with Arcade’s goal to provide Laughs for All.

Jay works with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project to increase awareness of the resources available to those facing wrongful convictions and facing re-entry after an exoneration. Jay has worked on addressing wrongful conviction claims and filing appellate briefs on issues of general interest to all exonerees and the wrongfully convicted.

Jay is also active as a part of his church community, and serves on Board committees of local non-profits promoting justice, assistance to the poor, and youth programs.

Pro-Bono

•Sought DNA testing for a prisoner maintaining his innocence in a decades-old sexual assault case
•Authored an amicus brief in support of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project’s positions regarding prisoners’ access to public records and filings in light of prisoners’ lack of access to the courthouses or use of the Internet; presumption of such access was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
•Represented a criminal defendant whose private and privileged counseling sessions were divulged to a third party without consent
•Representing a wrongfully convicted man in his malicious prosecution matter regarding the six years he spent in prison before being exonerated in a second trial

Community Activities

•Arcade Comedy Theater, Board of Directors (2015- present), President (2018- present), former Vice President, Facilities Committee (Chair)
•Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Western Pennsylvania Coordinator for the Advocates for Innocence Committee
•Ligonier Camp and Conference Center, Personnel Committee, Governance Committee (Co-Chair)
•Ridgewood Church

Related Events

•Building the Capacity of Nonprofit Arts Organizations Through Board Engagement
•Jay Evans Spoke at DRI Conference
•Jay Evans Participates in Mock Oral Argument to Panel of Pennsylvania Judges

Other Distinctions

•Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell