Jonathan Bolls

Jonathan is an associate with Tully Rinckey’s Washington, DC office, specializing in employment law. His experience in this area goes back to 2004, when he first assisted federal employees with security clearance and other complaints on behalf of a Congressman’s office in northern Virginia. His practice centers on various employment disputes including security clearance issues, discrimination claims, whistleblower claims, and First Amendment and other constitutional claims. He has represented individuals in both the private and public sector before various forums including security clearance committees, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the federal district courts of Maryland and Washington, DC. In addition, he has appealed certain cases to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has previously held a security clearance through the State Department and has been temporarily cleared to represent clients in classified hearings.

Prior to entering private sector litigation, Jonathan served as a magistrate in northern Virginia for ten years where he conducted pre-trial hearings on evidentiary matters in criminal cases.  Before that he completed his postgraduate fellowship with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in Arlington, VA.  Fresh out of law school, following the 2008 financial crisis, Jonathan was part of a team of lawyers brought on by Sullivan & Cromwell’s Washington DC office to respond to a DOJ inquiry into the possible role of credit rating agencies in their evaluation of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities and the consequent effect on international markets.

In the tradition of the citizen lawyer model of William & Mary School of Law, his alma mater and America’s first law school, he uses his skills to contribute to his community and help better the profession.   Jonathan had the privilege to be the head coach of a mock trial team for a local prep school for several years, helping them to grow from near last place to winning the Virginia State Championship and then traveling as a team to the West Coast to compete nationwide.  He is a past president of the George Washington American Inns of Court in Washington, DC and greatly enjoys serving on the Harriman Foreign Service Fellowships board where he interviews candidates from the Foreign Service School for scholarship awards for their assignments at our embassies overseas.  Awarded a Harriman scholarship himself back in 2003, he was assigned to the Science & Technology section of American Embassy London, where he also obtained a security clearance.

Outside of work, Jonathan enjoys visiting historic sites, hiking and getting out and seeing nature, spending time with friends and family, and is active in his local church.

Jonathan is admitted to the bar in Maryland and Washington DC, their respective federal district and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Court & Bar Admissions

• Maryland
• District of Columbia
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

• Represented a federal employee in a wrongful termination case and complete bar to federal employment where the employee was charged with certain security protocols. He conducted oral argument with the aid of enlarged visual displays before the director of the agency, polygraph examiners, as well as committees in multiple classified and unclassified settings demonstrating legitimate mitigating factors.  In the end the charges were dismissed, the job was saved, and a separate hearing was resolved favorably to my client in reinstating the Top Secret/ SCI security clearance.
• In a malicious prosecution/ abuse of judicial process case, Jonathan was second chair in a trial involving a propane truck delivery driver who was discriminated against on the basis of race. After being treated differently by management in the yard he began to complain which resulted in retaliation in the form of a knowingly false accusation and false arrest.  The company at the higher levels proceeded to then cover up for ground level management and encourage the prosecution as a “bargaining chip” in their own words to make his other complaints against the company go away.  After a week-long trial, Jonathan was helpful in obtaining $750,000 in compensation for the client and his family.
• In an originally sealed case in federal district court, Jonathan brought an emergency motion for injunctive relief and declaratory judgment to stop President Biden’s Executive Order 14043 requiring Coronavirus Disease vaccination for federal employees. His clients were two federal employees who stood to immediately lose their jobs.  Days following the order’s publication, Jonathan argued this was a clear Right of Privacy constitutional violation.  The case was argued against the Department of Justice after the Court granted his request for an emergency expedited timeframe and was fully briefed before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  While the nation’s circuit courts were split on the issue, with the Fourth Circuit ruling the other way, the Fifth Circuit in the Southeast ended up enjoining the mandate nationwide in 2023.