The POWER List 2023: Jonathan Sternberg

Jonathan Sternberg, Attorney PC, Kansas City

Jonathan Sternberg’s career as a top appellate attorney began with a series of unusual cases.

One of those cases challenged a Kansas City ordinance that banned smoking indoors except for casinos. He argued that city health inspectors’ citations enforcing the ban were those of unlicensed police officers.

Sternberg earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2007. His solo appellate practice ranges from domestic relations matters to a class-action suit brought by city EMTs.

In 2018, he challenged a Jackson County Circuit Court rule that allowed attorneys to be appointed to juvenile cases without pay. It resulted in the rule changing so lawyers could seek to be removed for good cause.

That same year, he represented David Jungerman, a Kansas City businessman who faced a $5.75 million jury verdict as a pro se litigant and later was accused of killing opposing counsel. In the underlying trial, Jungerman faced claims that he had wounded a man on his business property. The appeals court affirmed the verdict.