James Irwin Ham

Jim Ham focuses his statewide practice on representing attorneys in California State Bar discipline investigations and trials, in moral character proceedings and in connection with practice in California by attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions.  He advises and guides lawyers and law firms through complicated legal ethics issues involving disqualification and conflicts of interst, fee agreements and disputes, legal malpractice, lateral hiring, legal advertising, temporary practice and unlawful practice of law, and other legal ethics issues.  He acts as an expert witness regarding the legal standard of care, and provides MCLE programming to attorneys.  Jim has over 35 years of intense and complex litigation experience and has successfully handled thousands of State Bar investigations and inquiries.  Jim was a Member of the Special Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Califrornia from  2015-2017, which revised the California Rules of Professional Conduct,  The Commission's recommendations were largely adopted by the Supreme Court in November 2018.  Jim is active in the Association of Professional Responsibility lawyers, where he acts as Chair of the Association’s Public Statements Committee.  He is a member of the board of the Friends of the Los Angeles County Law Library, and was formerly a member of the board of the public interst law firm California Indian Legal Services.  He has served for decades on the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee, and has been a long-time member of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.  He can be contacted at or by telephone at (Los Angeles) and (San Francisco).

Jim was born and raised in California and loves the outdoors.  He has devoted years of service to professional organizations, as well as to organizations promoting access to justice for the underprivileged.  Jim also supports wildlife conservation efforts and the preservation of the outdoors for the enjoyment of future generations. 

Jim is licensed to practice law in California in Texas, and is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Courts in California.  He has offices in Glendale and San Francisco, California.

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