James F. Clapp

Recognized as one of the leading employee rights attorneys in California, Jim earned his J.D. degree in 1989 from Northwestern University School of Law. He received his B.A. degree, with distinction, from the University of Virginia, where has was an Echols Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.

Over his 30-year career, Jim has built an impressive record of success in complex employment and consumer class action cases. He has served as lead class counsel in more than 80 certified class action lawsuits, several of which have resulted in published opinions, and has tried multiple class action cases to judgment. Jim has spoken frequently on a wide variety of topics involving employment and consumer law and has testified before the California State Assembly on the legality of certain employment compensation practices.

Jim has earned an AV-Preeminent® rating, the highest rating offered by Martindale-Hubbell, the country’s leading attorney rating service. He has also been named as a California “Super Lawyer” since 2008, which is an honor reserved for the top 5% of attorneys in California. In 2017, Jim received a California Lawyer of the Year award for his role as lead counsel in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, which resulted in a landmark California Supreme Court decision. Jim just completed a three-year term as a commissioner on the California State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (“JNE Commission”), which is tasked with evaluating candidates who are being considered for judicial appointment.

Jim has obtained verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients totaling over $500 million. (Of course, results depend on the facts of each case, and we cannot guarantee any particular result.) Some of those results include:

• $106 million – In re Citigroup
• $50 million – Steinberg v. Morgan Stanley
• $45 million – Garett v. Morgan Stanley
• $44 million – Bowman v. UBS
• $37 million – Burns v. Merrill Lynch
• $21 million – Thill v. Edward Jones
• $20 million – Takacs v. A.G. Edwards
• $19 million – Kilby v. CVS
• $18 million – Hall v. Rite Aid
• $15 million – Garrett v. Bank of America
• $15 million – Smiles v. Walgreen Co.