Mr.
Brosnahan is a senior partner with Morrison & Foerster.
Mr. Brosnahan received his B.S.B.A. degree in 1956 from Boston
College and went on to attend Harvard Law School, earning his
LL.B. degree in 1959. In 1961, his post-law school career led
to five years as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting
federal cases in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, California.
Mr. Brosnahan has particular expertise in civil and criminal
trial work.
He
was inducted into The State Bar of California’s “Trial
Lawyers Hall of Fame” in April 1996; was awarded the “Samuel
E. Gates Award” by the American College of Trial Lawyers
in October 2000; was named the “Trial Lawyer of the Year”
by the American Board of Trial Advocates in October 2001; was
named “Legend of the Law” by the Lawyer’s Club
of San Francisco, November 2002; and was awarded the William
J. Brennan Jr. Award from the University of Virginia Trial Advocacy
Program, January 2003.
His
lecture series, “Great Trials and Great Lawyers,”
was featured with The Teaching Company’s America’s
SuperStar Teachers. Mr. Brosnahan was awarded the Champion of
Justice award from the Civil Justice Program at the Loyola Law
School in 2005. In addition, Mr. Brosnahan has been named to
the Unites States Lawyer Rankings 2006 List of the Nation's
Top 10 Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Mr.
Brosnahan has served as special counsel to the California Legislature's
Joint Subcommittee on Crude Oil Pricing, he was the lawyers'
representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and
Chairman of the Delegation, and president of the Bar Association
of San Francisco.
He
is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American
Board of Trial Advocates, the International Academy of Trial
Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the American
Law Institute, and the American Board of Criminal Lawyers Association.
Mr. Brosnahan also serves as Master Advocate on the faculty
and member of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute
for Trial Advocacy. Mr. Brosnahan served as co-chair of the
Bar Association of San Francisco's Subcommittee on Minority
Hiring.
Mr.
Brosnahan wrote the Trial Handbook for California Lawyers,
543 pp., Bancroft-Whitney.
Mr.
Brosnahan is regularly engaged in civil and criminal trials.
He has tried approximately 140 jury cases including, patent,
money laundering, libel, murder, manslaughter, mail fraud, insurance
bad faith, environmental property damage, divorce, child custody,
tax evasion, bank embezzlement, theft of government property,
real estate fraud, narcotics, obstruction of justice, perjury,
conspiracy, interstate transportation of wagering information,
antitrust, including monopolization and price fixing, securities,
contract actions, wrongful death actions, maritime, personal
injury, product liability, negligence, life insurance, savings
and loan fraud, interstate transportation of explosive materials,
professional misconduct, immigration and other miscellaneous
civil and criminal cases.
Mr.
Brosnahan has argued both civil and criminal appeals in state
and federal court, including two cases in the United States
Supreme Court: United States v. Caceres, 440 U.S. 741
(1979), and Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central
Committee, 109 S. Ct. 1013 (1989).
James
J. Brosnahan complete bio
