Attorney Profile
James D. Brokaw joined the firm in 2024. He graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor concentration from the Hesburgh Program in Public Service. He was granted a Dean’s Scholarship to attend the University of Michigan Law School, where he earned his J.D. in 2021.
In law school, James sought every opportunity to master advocacy on behalf of working people, studying labor law, employment discrimination law, employee benefits law/ERISA, alternative dispute resolution, trial advocacy, and complex litigation. He also worked in two pre-eminent union-side litigation firms representing workers in his home state, Indiana.
After law school, James accepted a position in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Law Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C., where he took part in several of SEIU’s ambitious organizing campaigns among contracted service workers. Advocating for SEIU in this segment of the U.S. labor market, he worked daily with cutting-edge, emergent theories of labor and employment law. He also shouldered first-chair case management responsibilities across the table from management and their counsel.
In his litigation practice, James represents individual plaintiffs in wrongful termination disputes and local unions in litigation under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act. As time permits, he is also developing a specialty representing union-affiliated Taft Hartley Funds in matters of ERISA compliance, transactional business, and day-to-day administration.
James is admitted to practice law in Michigan, in Indiana, and before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (the state court equivalent of the Federal District). He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Michigan, and for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.