Jim Ehinger's practice includes all areas of business and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on construction law, intellectual property disputes, international law, appellate cases, business torts, probate litigation, and employment cases. He has extensive trial experience as lead counsel and has successfully litigated hundreds of cases involving complex legal issues and/or substantial monetary disputes.
Representative Engagements
- In the largest civil action ever brought in Arizona, defended a leading local accounting firm against allegations of malpractice and negligent misrepresentation in which the client was facing potential liability of $600 million - $1 billion. After discovery and motion practice, our client was dismissed from the case for a nominal settlement
- Successfully prosecuted a $9 million securities fraud case for a California venture capital group arising out of their investments in a scheme to commercialize “coal cleaning” technology. When one of the individual defendants filed chapter 13 bankruptcy on the eve of trial, obtained dismissal of that case on the grounds of bankruptcy fraud -- one of a handful of such decisions ever rendered in Arizona
- Obtained a multi-million dollar recovery in a trade piracy action for one of the nation’s largest providers of emergency room staffing services against former employees operating a competing medical group
- On behalf of the largest supermarket chain in Northern Mexico, recovered $8.4 million that had been embezzled by its former president. The case was prosecuted under both Arizona and Mexican law
- Obtained a $1.5 million recovery from the general contractor for delays in the construction of a multiunit residential real estate project
- Successfully defended a former bank president against efforts by the Republic of Germany to domesticate and enforce a £1.2 million judgment obtained against him in Great Britain
- Represents a Mexican real estate developer in a $7 million dispute with the Mexican tenant and the Hong Kong guarantor of an industrial facility in Sonora, Mexico. The court has granted summary judgment for our client on liability, and we are awaiting trial on damages
Presentations
Panelist, “Doing Business in Latin America” Arizona World Trade Center, 1996
Panelist, “Implementation of U.S. civil and Commercial Law in Interational Transactions” Maricopa Community College's Custom Training Program for the Delegation of Judges of Chengdu, China, 1996
Community Activities
Stark-Martin Charitable Trust
Administrator
Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation
Past President
Former Board Member
Arizona Cactus Pine Girl Scout Council
Former Board Member
Honors, Appointments and Awards
Professional Affiliations
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Inter-American Bar Association
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American Bar Association
International Law Section
, Member
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Federal Bar Association
Member
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Arizona State Bar Association
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California State Bar Association
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Maricopa County Bar Association
Admitted to Practice
- Arizona, 1984
- California, 1981
Court Admission
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2005
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, 2007
- U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, 1984
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1982
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, 1991
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 1989
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 2007
Education
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J.D.
, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
, 1981
Order of the Coif
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M.A.
, University of California, Berkeley
, American History, 1978
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B.A.
, University of California, Los Angeles
, History, 1975
cum laude
