Firm
Spertus, Landes & Umhofer, LLP
James W. Spertus is an experienced trial attorney who has been
litigating cases in federal and state courts for more than 22 years. He
has tried dozens of cases to favorable jury verdicts and has
successfully argued numerous appeals in federal and state courts.
Mr. Spertus was a federal prosecutor in the Central District of
California who spent nearly eight years as a criminal trial attorney at
the United States Attorney’s Office for the Department of Justice.
After four years handling a wide variety of fraud and major crimes
cases, Mr. Spertus became a founding member of the Computer Crimes and
Intellectual Property Section and spent many years as a computer crimes
and intellectual property prosecutor supervising complex investigations
involving trade secret theft, computer intrusions, and intellectual
property crime. Mr. Spertus has also lectured at numerous training
sessions for federal agents and Assistant United States Attorneys,
including advanced training sessions at the FBI Academy in Quantico,
Virginia. He has provided strategic advice on techniques and strategies
for prosecuting computer crimes, and has substantial experience with
complex fraud, narcotics, and major crimes cases.
From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Spertus was an associate at the Los Angeles
law firm Irell & Manella, specializing in civil litigation. From
1991 to 1992, Mr. Spertus clerked for the Honorable Proctor Hug, Jr., on
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Spertus earned his law degree from the University of Southern
California Law Center in 1991, where he was Order of the Coif (Top 10%),
Phi Kappa Phi (Top 5%), and Managing Editor of the Southern California
Law Review. Mr. Spertus spent his first three undergraduate years at
the University of California, Berkley, and then transferred the
University of California, Los Angeles where he earned his Bachelor of
Arts degree in 1988.
Mr. Spertus founded this firm in 2006, and is currently a Ninth
Circuit Lawyer Representative and serves on the Board of Directors of
the ABA White Collar Crime Subcommittee, Los Angeles Chapter. Mr.
Spertus was selected for inclusion in Southern California Super Lawyers
for each year from 2009 through 2014, and was selected by his peers for
inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® from 2012 through 2014.