Jim chairs the Firm’s litigation department. Jim earned his J.D. in 1989 from Northwestern University School of Law, where served on the Editorial Board of one of Northwestern’s law journals. In 1986, Jim received his B.A., with distinction, from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.
Since co-founding the Firm in 1995, Jim has built an impressive record of success in complex consumer and employment lawsuits. He is recognized as one of the leading wage and hour trial attorneys in California and has served as lead counsel in more than 50 certified class action lawsuits involving alleged violations of federal or state wage and hour law, several of which have resulted in published opinions. He has lectured on a wide variety of topics involving employment and consumer law, and in 2005, he testified before the California State Assembly on the legality of certain forms of deductions from wages. Over the course of his career, Jim has obtained trial verdicts and settlements totaling well over $300 million. He has personally earned an “AV” rating, the highest rating offered by Martindale-Hubbell, the country’s leading attorney rating service.
Before joining the Firm, from 1989-94, Jim was a litigation attorney with the law firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Friedenrich, now known as DLA Piper, the largest law firm in the world.