James French is a dynamic litigator with a focus on workers’ compensation defense, representing employers, insurance companies, and third-party administrators across a variety of industries.
James is rapidly making his mark in the legal industry. His extensive hands-on experience in case preparation, attendance at hearings and depositions, and client communication is invaluable in providing efficient and practical counsel to his clients. James is also a team player who approaches challenges with a problem-solving mindset.
James regularly produces engaging, visually stunning, and entertaining but highly informative legal presentations and trainings. He produces his own audiovisual content combined with advanced animated PowerPoint slideshows that incorporate interactive game segments, video footage, and dynamic informational elements that have earned consistent praise from clients.
Prior to joining Weber Gallagher, James served as an associate attorney at a boutique workers’ compensation firm. In this role, he honed his litigation skills by managing daily administrative hearings and depositions. Further underlining his collaborative and proactive approach, James utilized his tech-savvy background to serve as the firm’s in-house IT manager. In this role, he developed innovative case management and legal practice software, significantly enhancing the firm’s efficiency.
Since 2024, James was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®: Ones to Watch for his workers’ compensation practice. This accolade recognizes extraordinary lawyers who have been in private practice for less than 10 years in the United States and is based entirely on peer review.
James also occasionally counsels clients on intellectual property issues as a USPTO registered patent attorney. James continues to carry his passion and commitment to assisting survivors of intimate partner and gender-based violence into his work at Weber Gallagher, providing pro bono services generously donated by the firm to clients with family law matters ranging from orders of protection to child support and enforcement.
Secured a major victory having a heavily litigated and publicized workers’ compensation claim disallowed after proving that the worker was not assaulted and lied in her testimony about the multitude of injuries alleged. This was a highly watched claim and James’ team, including private investigators, worked together to compile a substantial amount of evidence including multiple different angles of video footage to disprove the worker’s claim that she was assaulted.
Successfully secured low-figure settlements of half a dozen controverted claims brought by independent contractor drivers alleging they were employees and seeking benefits despite contractual language to the contrary. James was able to marshal enough evidence and legal precedent to convince these claimants to resolve their claims without a finding of compensability on the merits, saving not only the claim but also substantial litigation costs.
Secured the dismissal of multiple frivolous complaints made by opposing counsel and medical providers against several insurance carrier clients alleging financial misconduct. James spent countless hours preparing detailed responses to these complaints with direct evidence from the workers’ compensation record in order to prove that the complaints lacked any grounds in the record and in several cases actively misrepresented facts in evidence.
Prior results cannot and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter that we or any lawyer may be retained to handle.
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