James J. Braze

Senior Counsel

Bakersfield Office
1600 Truxtun Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93307
Telephone: (661) 322-3051
Facsimile: (661) 322-4628
E-mail: jbraze@bortonpetrini.com

Jim Braze is Senior Counsel in the Bakersfield office of Borton Petrini, LLP. He is Martindale-Hubbell AV® Peer Review Rated and has tried over thirty significant jury trials to verdict representing some of the largest Fortune 500 companies.

Mr. Braze received his bachelor and master degrees in engineering from the University of Southern California and University of Alaska in 1968 and 1971, respectively. Mr. Braze became a licensed professional engineer in mechanical engineering in California in 1973 and spent ten years as an engineer for the world’s largest oil companies. He was a member of the Frontier Area Task Force, while employed by Exxon, to evaluate the development potential in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, off-shore North Slope and deep water off-shore Santa Barbara.

In 1977 he received his law degree from Loyola Law School, was admitted to practice law in California, and joined Borton Petrini, LLP in Bakersfield focusing on business litigation and product liability matters, including condemnation and public entity.

In 1980 Jim was admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and prosecuted patent applications. He also handled litigation relating to patent infringement and trademark violations.
Jim obtained his masters of law degree in taxation from the Golden Gate University School of Law in 1997 where he focused on business taxation, mergers and acquisitions, and tax controversy litigation. He was admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and handled tax controversy matters and IRS audits and disputes.

Mr. Braze is one of less than twenty attorneys in California to try an elder abuse case to verdict. Mr. Braze has defended health care providers including doctors, nurses, skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities against claims for malpractice and elder abuse.

Other areas of Mr. Braze’s practice have included the litigation and trial of insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, and construction-related litigation. He has tried over ten bad faith cases to jury verdict involving first-party claims, and has represented crane and rigging companies in several major personal injury and wrongful death actions

Jim is an avid USC football fan and his two favorite teams are USC and whoever happens to be playing UCLA.

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Education:

• University of Southern California, BSME, 1968
• University of Alaska, MS, 1971
• Loyola Law School, J.D, 1977
• Golden Gate University School of Law, LLM (Taxation), 1997

Admitted:

• State Bar of California, 1977
• U.S. District Court of Northern California, 1992
• U.S. District Court of Southern California. 1992
• U.S. District Court of Eastern California, 1979
• U.S. District Court of Central California, 1986
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2000
• United States Tax Court. 1999

Business and Professional Associations:

• Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada
• Kern County Bar Association
• Society of Petroleum Engineers
• American Bar Association, sections on Energy, Business, and Tax
   

Lectures and Seminars:

• California Unfair Claims Practices Seminar, 1995
• Institute of London Underwriters, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles

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