Jokūbas Šernas

Jokūbas Šernas (pronunciation^ⓘ; 27 June 1888 – 31 July 1926) was a Lithuanian activist and one of the twenty signatories to the Act of Independence of Lithuania.

He studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, graduating in 1914. After he returned to Lithuania, he edited the daily newspaper Lietuvos žinios. During World War I, he joined the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers and taught history at the Lithuanian Rytas Gymnasium. He helped organize the Vilnius Conference and was elected to the Council of Lithuania, which adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918. Šernas was the secretary of the Council of Lithuania from September 1917 to March 1919 handling its paperwork and day-to-day business. From February 1918 to March 1919, he was one of the four members of the presidium that acted in the council's name while it was not in session.

Šernas was a member of various special government commissions, including those that organized the Second Conference of the State of Lithuania, investigated the deaths of Jurgis Smolskis and Feliksas Valiukas and Kaunas garrison mutiny, drafted the Third Temporary Constitution of Lithuania. From 12 April to 7 October 1919, Šernas was the minister without portfolio in the Sleževičius Cabinet II. In February–March 1920, Šernas worked to convince four members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor to join the Council of Lithuania. It was accomplished on 20 March 1920 which was celebrated as a symbolic unification of Lithuania Minor with Lithuania.

Šernas was not elected to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania. He then turned to business ventures becoming a board member of the Trade and Industry Bank. He was also involved with breweries Gubernija and Ragutis, and insurance company Lietuvos Lloydas. In 1925, he returned to government service to head the Municipalities Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He died of stomach cancer in July 1926. His son Jacques Sernas became an actor in France and United States.