Prior to joining Bordas & Bordas, a West Virginia firm, Sharon Eubanks co-founded the Washington, D.C. based public interest law firm, Edwards & Eubanks.
Sharon began her legal career with the Federal Trade Commission, litigating antitrust cases. In 1983, she joined the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, where she did both trial and appellate work in federal court. From 2000 to 2005, Sharon served as lead counsel on behalf of the United States in the largest civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) enforcement action ever filed, United States v. Philip Morris USA, et al., the federal tobacco litigation. Following a nine-month trial, the federal district court found that the major U.S. cigarette companies violated the civil provisions of RICO and committed fraud on a massive scale. They were ordered to change the way they do business, particularly in marketing and advertising, and the decision was affirmed upon appeal to the D.C. Circuit.
Sharon is co-author of Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry, an insider’s account of the federal tobacco litigation that led to the landmark decision. While at the Department of Justice, Sharon received numerous awards recognizing her work, including the U.S. Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement, as well as the Stanley D. Rose Memorial award, the Civil Division’s highest and most prestigious award.
From 2007 until 2009, Sharon worked exclusively on pro bono matters at the D.C. law firm of Holland & Knight. During that time, she worked on prison litigation reform issues and on a federal class action suit filed in New Orleans, representing detained children who were denied basic constitutional and civil rights during their imprisonment, a case that was settled after the court certified the class. For her work on the case, Sharon received the Justice for Youth Award from the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana.
In 2009, Sharon joined a civil rights litigation boutique firm in Washington, representing plaintiffs in employment discrimination, lead poisoning, medical malpractice, and fair labor standards cases. She worked with a team of attorneys representing over 6,000 female employees in Velez v. Novartis. Following a seven-week trial, Sharon’s trial team secured a $253 million judgment for the plaintiffs, the largest employment verdict in a gender discrimination case in U.S. history, after which the trial judge remarked that the case had been “brilliantly tried.”
Sharon has taught Trial Advocacy at George Washington University School of Law as an adjunct professor, and has served as an instructor for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, and serves as a member of the board and an officer of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.
Sharon has appeared and discussed her work on several national television programs, including Hardball with Chris Matthews, Fox News Sunday, The CBS Evening News, and Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, as well as on radio programs such as The Rachel Maddow Show on Air America and several National Public Radio programs. She is also featured in the 2011 documentary film, “Addiction Incorporated,” which highlights the story of a key witness in the case against Big Tobacco.
Sharon is a graduate of Mississippi State University (B.A., cum laude, ’76) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. ’80). She lives with her family in northern Virginia.
Sharon joined the ANR Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2009 and previously served as Secretary and Vice Chair.