James Stone

In July, 2025, James M. Stone semi-retired from the active practice of law at Jackson Lewis and now concentrates his efforts in extensive nonprofit arts board, foundation,, and related activities, as well as enjoying and collecting art and historical arts scholarship. Currently, Mr Stone is Chair for the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and on the executive committee of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, is Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee at the Union Club of Cleveland, while also serving on the board of the Union Club Foundation and ARTNeo(the Cleveland Artists Foundation). While at Jackson Lewis for 19 years and prior to that for 20 years, Mr. Stone practiced labor and employment law in the private sector, and conducted more than 125 negotiations with unions, handled over 100 labor and employment arbitrations, defended hundreds of employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, and other claims in court and before administrative agencies such as the EEOC, NLRB, and Department of Labor. He defended companies against a broad range of challenges including wrongful discharge claims, wage and hour actions, large multi-plaintiff discrimination claims, as well as counseling large, middle market, and smaller clients in a wide variety of employment and labor law matters. He litigated a large number of employment cases through trial or dismissal, including those involving restructuring and reductions in force and restructuring of benefits. He has counseled clients and written on topics as diverse as the ADA, ADEA, WARN Act, the FMLA, sexual harassment, and other forms of discrimination, non-competition agreements, wrongful discharge, and hiring practices. Mr. Stone also has extensive familiarity with certain international employment law issues, especially those of Canada and Mexico. Mr. Stone is particularly knowledgeable about the manufacturing, transportation, automotive, health care, and steel industries. He often consults with clients regarding the legal aspects of employment terminations and downsizing. Mr. Stone believes that clients should take a pragmatic and humanistic approach to their employment relations, combining the best practices from human resource, labor relations, and legal strategies, while aggressively defending themselves against unwarranted attacks on their management rights.