James Spertus

Appeals, Civil Litigation, Consumer Class Actions, Student Discipline and Title IX, Trials, and White Collar Criminal Defense/Government Enforcement Actions

James W. Spertus is an experienced trial attorney and a former federal prosecutor who has been litigating cases in federal and state courts for approximately 30 years. He has successfully argued numerous cases in federal, state, trial, and appellate courts throughout the United States and has tried dozens of cases to favorable jury verdicts. Broad trial and appellate experiences help Mr. Spertus quickly identify essential issues, facts, documents, and witnesses necessary to achieve extraordinary results. He is nimble, focused, aggressive and decisive.

Mr. Spertus has received many peer reviewed accolades including: Litigation Star Award, Benchmark Litigation (2026); Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2025-2026); Legal 500 Los Angeles City Elite: White Collar Crime (2026); Doyle's Guide Preeminent Criminal Defense Lawyer (2026); Top 100 Criminal Lawyer, Daily Journal (2024); Top 100 Lawyer, Daily Journal (2023); Chambers USA (2019-2026); U.S. News and World Reports' Best Lawyers in America (2012-2026); Southern California Super Lawyers (2008-2026). Mr. Spertus has also been recognized as a superior trial attorney by The National Trial Lawyers Top 100, Lawyers of Distinction, AVVO, and Top 100 Lawyers. Mr. Spertus was a Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representative from 2012 through 2016, and served on the Board of Directors of the ABA White Collar Crime Subcommittee, Los Angeles Chapter, and the FBA Rules of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Subcommittee.

From 1996 to 2004, Mr. Spertus was a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where he spent nearly eight years as a trial attorney prosecuting major frauds, major crimes, and computer crimes in a wide variety of areas. Mr. Spertus became a founding member of the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section in 2000 and spent many years as an intellectual property prosecutor supervising complex investigations involving trade secret theft, computer intrusions, and intellectual property. Mr. Spertus has also lectured at numerous training sessions for federal agents and Assistant United States Attorneys, including advanced training sessions at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Spertus was an associate at the Los Angeles law firm Irell & Manella, specializing in civil litigation. From 1991 to 1992, Mr. Spertus clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Procter Hug, Jr. He earned his law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1991, where he was Order of the Coif (Top 10%), Phi Kappa Phi (Top 5%), and Managing Editor of the Southern California Law Review. Mr. Spertus spent his first three undergraduate years at the University of California, Berkeley, and then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988.