Biography
Biography
Jonathan D. Colan is a veteran appellate advocate with more than 30 years of experience handling high stakes appeals in state and federal courts. He serves as Co-Chair of Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine’s Appellate Practice, where he partners closely with trial teams and outside counsel to provide strategic appellate guidance from pre-trial stages through final resolution.
Jonathan brings a rare blend of deep appellate judgment and practical litigation insight shaped by nearly three decades with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and private practice. During his tenure with the government, he served as both an Assistant United States Attorney and Senior Appellate Attorney in the Appellate Division, drafting briefs and arguing complex criminal, civil, and immigration appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eleventh and Second Circuits. As a senior member of the division’s leadership team, Jonathan played a key role in shaping appellate strategy, advising the office on emerging legal issues, and mentoring new attorneys.
Throughout his career, Jonathan has handled appeals involving constitutional questions, white-collar and financial crimes, international and maritime jurisdiction, national security matters, sentencing and post-conviction issues, and complex statutory interpretation. His work includes numerous published and precedent-setting decisions, including en banc rulings and cases addressing extradition, United States maritime and extraterritorial jurisdiction, commercial frauds and conspiracies, and international law and treaties.
In addition to his government service, Jonathan has extensive experience in private practice, where he handled civil and commercial appeals throughout Florida’s appellate court system, including en banc district court and Florida Supreme Court decisions on insurance coverage issues and decisions on familial due process rights.
He has also been deeply involved in appellate education, serving as an adjunct professor of appellate law at the University of Miami School of Law and as an instructor at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center, where he trained attorneys nationwide on appellate advocacy and legal writing.
Outside of his practice, Jonathan is Chair of The South Florida Committee of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, which honors high school students for outstanding volunteer work in promoting racial harmony, understanding, and equity. He is also a board member of Temple Sinai of Hollywood, where he leads the Mensch Club.
Jonathan is a prolific writer and frequent speaker on appellate law, with articles published in the DOJ Journal of Federal Law & Practice, University of Miami Law Review, Washington & Lee Law Review, and The Florida Bar Journal, among others. He is a recipient of the Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance and the National Association of Former United States Attorneys’ Exceptional Service Award.
Jonathan earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Miami Law Review, and his A.B. from Princeton University.
Education
Education
- University of Miami School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1995
- Princeton University, A.B., 1992
Bar Admissions and Memberships
Bar Admissions and Memberships
- Florida, 1995
Awards and Publications
Awards and Publications
Awards
- 2012/2013 DOJ Director’s Award for “Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney – Appellate,” for work on United States v. Augustin et al., 661 F.3d 1105 (11th Cir. 2011) [the Liberty City/Sears Tower terrorism case].
- 2023 “Exceptional Service Award” presented by the National Association of Former United States Attorneys
Publications
- Author, “Enforcing Appeal Waivers Requires Meaningful Resolution of Motions to Dismiss,” 74 DOJ J. FED. L. & PRAC. 163 (January 2026).
- Author, “A Brief History of Section 404’s Crack Sentencing Reform,” 69 DOJ J. FED. L. & PRAC. 57 (September 2021).
- Author, “Structural Errors Are Not Created Equal and Are Not All Per Se Reversible,” 67 DOJ J. FED. L. & PRAC. 125 (April 2019).
- Author, “Reassigning Cases on Remand in the Interests of Justice, for the Enforcement of Appellate Decisions, and for Other Reasons That Remain Unclear,” 72 U. MIAMI REV. 1092 (Summer 2018).
- Presenter, ABA’s “Sound Advice” podcast, “The Supreme Court’s Talmudic Debate on the Meanings of Guilt, Innocence, and Finality,” under the auspices of the Appellate Practice Section (September 2017).
- Author, “The Supreme Court’s Talmudic Debate on the Meanings of Guilt, Innocence, and Finality,” 73 WASH. & LEE REV. 1243 (Summer 2016) (presented as part of the W&L symposium “From Conviction to Clemency: A Case Study in the Modern Death Penalty”).
- Author, “Giving Judge Tjoflat’s Deference Analysis Its Due,” 69 U. MIAMI REV. 973 (Summer 2015).
- Author, “A Wrong Without a Remedy: Can the Erroneous Grant of a Batson Objection Ever Constitute Reversible Error?,” 88 FLA. BAR. J. 33 (Nov. 2014).
- Author, “The New Federalism Meets the Eleventh Circuit’s Old Criminal Law,” 64 U. MIAMI REV. 1205 (July 2010).
- Author, “Why Punitive Damages and Criminal Sentences are Reviewed Differently and What it Means to Your Appeal,” 82 FLA. BAR. J. 30 (Dec. 2008).
- Author, “You Can’t Take That Away From Me: The Sanctity of the Homestead Property Right and Its Effect on the Civil Forfeiture of the Home,” 49 U. MIAMI REV. 159 (Fall 1994).
- Presenter, “The Use of Persuasive Authority from the Federal Courts,” at the Third District Court of Appeal Spring Seminar on “The Use of Persuasive Authority in Florida’s Appellate Courts,” April 6, 2011.
- Panelist, “Is America Almost Beyond Race,” 1360-AM radio show, “Caribbean Crossroads, November 24, 2007 (arising out of my work as Chairman of the local South Florida committee awarding the Princeton Prize in Race Relations).
- Author of Federal Corner articles published on the Federal Court Practice Committee of the Florida Bar’s social media platforms, including:
- “Can Judicial Discretion Be Unconstitutionally Vague?”
- “Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Bonner v. City of Prichard”
Affiliations and Community Activities
Affiliations and Community Activities
Community Activities
- South Florida Committee Chair, Princeton Price in Race Relations (Present)
- Board Member, Temple Sinai of Hollywood (Present)