Ratliff Jackson LLP
Our Attorneys
The attorneys of Ratliff Jackson LLP represent students, licensed professionals, and individuals in proceedings where a single decision can reshape a career or an education. Our practice concentrates on student defense, professional license defense, funeral home litigation, and civil litigation, and each attorney below lists the jurisdictions in which they are admitted.
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Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Terrell A. Ratliff, Esq.
Head of Criminal, Education and Professional License Defense
Also admitted in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Terrell represents students facing Title IX investigations, academic misconduct allegations, disciplinary hearings, suspensions, expulsions, and code of conduct charges at universities, graduate schools, and boarding schools. He is a member of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and works within institutional investigative procedures on behalf of students whose academic and professional futures are at stake.
He also leads the firm's professional license defense practice, representing physicians, nurses, pharmacists, educators, social workers, mental health professionals, and other licensed practitioners in board investigations and disciplinary proceedings. His background includes more than a decade of criminal defense and litigation experience in state and federal courts, and he regularly handles matters in which disciplinary, civil, criminal, and licensing exposure overlap.
His education law work extends beyond discipline to the services a school is obligated to provide, including special education disputes, disability accommodation denials, Section 504 plan compliance, and placement decisions affecting students in K through 12 and in higher education.
Education: Juris Doctor, University of Toledo College of Law
- Education Law
- Title IX Defense
- Student Discipline Defense
- Professional License Defense
- Criminal Defense
Co-Founder and Partner
Samuel D. Jackson, Esq.
Head of Civil Litigation and Funeral Home Litigation
Admitted in all Municipal Courts and Superior Courts of the State of New Jersey. Holds federal admissions in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the District of New Jersey Bankruptcy Court, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sam leads the firm's funeral home litigation practice, representing families in matters involving mishandled remains, wrongful burial or cremation, disregarded religious burial instructions, and funeral fraud. He brings these claims under New Jersey's right of sepulcher doctrine, consumer protection statutes, and emotional distress theories.
His broader practice covers civil litigation, personal injury, civil rights, consumer fraud, business disputes, student and professional license defense, and family law matters involving divorce, custody, and domestic violence. He handles matters through negotiation, trial advocacy, and appellate litigation.
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Rice University (National Merit Scholar). Juris Doctor, Fordham University School of Law, where he served as Director of the Suspension Representation Project and edited the Fordham International Law Journal.
Clerkship: Justice Adrian Hardiman, Supreme Court of Ireland.
Attorney
John A. Fonte, Esq.
John concentrates on civil litigation, including personal injury, labor disputes, municipal and government law, real estate transactions, and commercial contract disputes. He served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Christopher Gibson, J.S.C., in the Superior Court of New Jersey, where he prepared recommendations to the court on personal injury, governmental immunity, real estate and construction law, and complex commercial litigation.
During law school he served in the Civil Practice Clinic and completed more than one hundred hours of pro bono work as a bankruptcy attorney, estate planner, and civil mediator with the Superior Court of New Jersey.
Education: Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Philosophy, Brandeis University. Juris Doctor, Rutgers Law School, attended on full scholarship.
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Of Counsel
Joseph Cannizzo Jr., Esq.
Admitted to practice in a number of federal districts, including the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Alabama, the Southern District of Alabama, the Western District of Texas, the Northern District of Indiana, the Southern District of Indiana, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Eastern District of Michigan.
Admitted in Alabama only. Not licensed to practice law in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.
Joseph's practice focuses on personal injury litigation, general civil litigation, and trademark matters. Before entering the legal profession, he worked for more than a decade at a geriatric care community, an experience that informs his work on matters involving nursing home neglect and elder abuse and the standards that care facilities are required to meet.
He holds an advanced law degree in casino gaming law and regulation, and authored a peer reviewed legal treatise on convenience store slot parlors published by the International Center for Gaming Regulation.
Education: Juris Doctor, Rutgers Law School. Master of Laws, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a specialization in Casino Gaming Law and Regulation.
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Litigation Associate
Kyle A. Adams, Esq.
Also admitted in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Kyle handles civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He pursues mediation and negotiated resolution where that path serves the client's objectives, and prepares each matter for trial where it does not. His approach emphasizes clear communication and consistent case preparation.
Before entering the legal profession, he commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Chemical Corps after completing the Army ROTC program, and served with the New Jersey Army National Guard in operational roles that required precision and disciplined decision making. He continues to serve as a volunteer firefighter and hazardous materials technician, and has held nonprofit leadership and veterans advocacy roles.
Kyle also handles education law and student defense matters, representing students in disciplinary proceedings, academic misconduct allegations, and disputes over the services a school is required to provide, along with criminal defense matters in state court.
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Seton Hall University. Juris Doctor, Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
- Education Law
- Student Discipline Defense
- Criminal Defense
- Civil Litigation
- Employment Law
- Business Law
Licensure and Jurisdiction
Attorneys of Ratliff Jackson LLP are licensed in Alabama, California, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Jurisdictional limitations for individual attorneys are stated with each attorney listed above. Admission to a federal district court is separate from admission to the bar of the state in which that court sits.
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Practice Areas
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