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James, Dinita L.
Posted By jryan On January 4, 2013 @ 4:06 pm
Dinita L. James has extensive experience litigating complex matters in state and federal court, including large employment discrimination class actions and wage and hour collective actions. She also represents employers in defense of individual cases arising under anti-discrimination, whistleblower protection and anti-retaliation laws and in enforcement of non-competition and other restrictive covenants.
Most recently, Ms. James won dismissal of a retaliation claim under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act brought by a former human resources manager and successfully defended a million dollar disability discrimination claim in arbitration. She also recently has represented a metals distributor in a federal trial of a non-competition matter; a medical practice and its management company against tort claims and a breach of contract claim brought by a physician; and litigated before the Nevada Supreme Court regarding enforcement in that state of restrictive covenants acquired by merger.
In addition, Ms. James has experience in the areas of defense of consumer and securities class actions and complex commercial litigation. She also has considerable experience in arbitration of civil and commercial matters, and in False Claims Act litigation and defense of corporate directors and officers in shareholder derivative actions.
Notably, Ms. James achieved a favorable settlement with a state attorney general’s office on behalf of a nonprofit Medicaid provider, helping it to avoid potential treble damages. In a recent commercial arbitration, Ms. James obtained an award for an insurance carrier that was only a fraction of its multimillion dollar exposure on a coverage dispute involving a complex corporate acquisition. Her wide-ranging experience includes antitrust, environmental, real estate, trust and probate litigation, and disputes involving contracts of all kinds.
Ms. James currently serves as Director of the Publications Division of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation, having recently completed a one-year term as Managing Director of the Section. For three years she co-chaired the ABA Litigation Section’s Committee on Class Actions and Derivative Suits and was elected in 2006 to serve a three-year term on the Litigation Section’s governing Council. She chaired the Council’s Diversity Committee for two years. Ms. James also chaired its CLE Committee, after being honored for two consecutive years with the Section’s Award of Excellence for CLE Programming. She is a Past President of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and the Ferguson-White American Inn of Court. Ms. James is also a member of the State Bar of Arizona, Maricopa County Bar Association, Arizona Women Lawyers Association, Navajo Nation Bar Association, and the Sandra Day O’Connor Inn of Court.
Ms. James is AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell, has been selected for inclusion on the Southwest Super Lawyers® list, as well as the Best Lawyers® list in Labor and Employment Law, and was named one of “Florida’s Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine.
Ms. James is a member of the Employers Counsel Network, is the Arizona editor for 50 Employment Laws in 50 States, and also edits the Arizona Employment Law Letter. She regularly presents seminars, including topics concerning immigration for Arizona employers, employment discrimination, FMLA compliance and employee leave challenges, and maximizing in-house/outside counsel relationships.
Before law school, Ms. James worked for more than seven years as a reporter and editor for the Greensboro News & Record and the Tampa Tribune and now advises clients on dealing with the media in high-profile cases. She graduated first in her law school class at the University of North Carolina School of Law and served as Executive Articles Editor for the North Carolina Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. She earned a B.A. in Journalism at the University of North Carolina. Ms. James is admitted to practice in Florida and Arizona; U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona; U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Middle Districts of Florida; and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits. She is also admitted to the Navajo Nation Bar.
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