Jim is a partner working out of the Pittsburgh, New York and Los Angeles offices, who has specialized in appellate law for more than 30 years. He is certified as a specialist in the area of Appellate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Jim is a fellow, director, and president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and is a member and former president of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He is a founding member of the Third Circuit Bar Association and served as its second president. He also is a member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Section on Appellate Courts and served as its chair. He served for three years on the California State Bar Committee on Appellate Courts and is the former vice-chair of the Federal Bar Association's Appellate Law and Practice Committee. Jim has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in Appellate Law (2006-2015) and the Pittsburgh "Lawyer of the Year" for Appellate Practice (2013), as one of Pennsylvania's and Southern California's "Super Lawyers" in Appellate Law, a Benchmark Appellate Star in Pennsylvania, an American Lawyer Media Southern California Top Rated Lawyer in Appellate Law, and for admission into the American Law Institute. Additionally, Jim has an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Appellate Experience

Jim has briefed and handled cases in the United States Supreme Court, the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Federal Circuit, the Court of Claims, the California Supreme Court, the California Courts of Appeal, the Washington Supreme Court, the Arizona Appellate and Supreme Courts, the Delaware Supreme Court, the Nevada Supreme Court, the Ohio Appellate and Supreme Courts, the Pennsylvania Appellate and Supreme Courts, the Texas Appellate and Supreme Courts, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and the Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and New Jersey Appellate Courts.

Areas of Substantive Expertise and Consultation

Jim's expertise spans a wide range of substantive areas including unfair competition, insurance recovery, coverage and bad faith, financial services, intellectual property, products liability, pharmaceutical and medical devices, and class actions. He has dealt with many specialized issues in each of these areas, including those involving preemption (federal and state), expert witnesses (federal and state) and consumer fraud (federal and state). In addition to briefing and arguing appeals, Jim regularly consults with trial lawyers on substantive and procedural issues in ongoing cases to help shape trial strategies and make the best record possible for an eventual appeal. These trial consultations also include briefing and argument, and the preparation of post-trial motions, writs, or interlocutory appeals as needed.

Representative Writing and Teaching

Jim has been a practitioner-advisor in appellate advocacy at both Boalt Hall and Hastings law schools, and is a frequent author and consultant for California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) on a variety of subjects involving civil litigation and civil appellate practice and received its "Spirit of CEB" Award in 2007. With Colin Wrabley, he received the Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing for his 2014 article “Using Privately Provided Out-of-Court Relief to Defeat Class Certification.” He is the co-author of California's leading text on experts and a contributing author in texts on civil appellate practice. He has participated in multiple programs dealing with handling civil appeals, record protection for appeal, expert witnesses, and complex litigation. He is a co-editor and chapter co-author of PBI's Third Circuit Appellate Practice Guide and the Ninth Circuit editor and chapter author for the ABA's national compendium on Superseding and Staying Judgments.