James Rossi is the President and Managing Attorney of Rossi Law Group. His practice is dedicated to aggressively and ethically defending various self-insured groups, self-insured employers, third party administrators, and insurance carriers in workers' compensation cases.
James has handled numerous high exposure and complex claims. He has also defended many claims for serious and willful misconduct penalties, as well as L.C. §132a discrimination penalties.
James was admitted to practice before all California State Courts in 2001. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Prior to founding Rossi Law Group on January 1, 2012, James spent his entire career with Crandall, Wade and Lowe. After initially practicing civil litigation (i.e., catastrophic personal injury defense, and intellectual property litigation) and appellate law, he ventured into workers' compensation litigation and would ultimately establish an autonomous workers' compensation department within the firm. Rossi Law Group is both an extension and expansion of that department.
James has handled various appeals in the State and Federal Courts, including a landmark case pertaining to the Federal Court's subject matter jurisdiction. The issue was a matter of first impression in the 9th Circuit. Ultimately, James' appeal was granted on all issues in favor of his client, and the 9th Circuit issued a published opinion creating new controlling legal precedent. [See Lively v. Wild Oats Markets, 456 F.3d 933 (9th Cir. 2006)]. Subsequently, the plaintiff petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. James opposed the petition, which was denied in its entirety, leaving the new law undisturbed. To date, the case has been cited more than 1000 times, including 300 legal decisions as well as numerous practice guides, treatises, and law review articles.
James is active in the workers' compensation community He regularly speaks to third party administrators and insurers; he also speaks at various conferences regarding workers compensation.
James has an AV-Preeminent peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating possible, signifying the highest level of professional excellence and ethical standards.
James was named a "Southern California Rising Star" by Law and Politics from 2005 through 2007. He was honored as such in Los Angeles Magazine and Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine, classifying him among the top 2.5% of up and coming lawyers.
James graduated from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles - where he was an award-winning member of the Moot Court Honors Board. He also wrote a law review article that was published as the lead article in Volume 42, Number 2, of the Santa Clara Law Review.
