
Education
University of California, Berkeley
A.B., 1982
University of California, Davis
King Hall School of Law
J.D., 1985
Bar Admissions
California, 1985
Practice Areas
James J. Banks
Mr. Banks represents private and public sector clients in litigations in state and federal court. He has a trial practice emphasizing complex, document intensive, commercial and public agency litigation, claims against attorneys, administrative law matters and appellate litigation. Mr. Banks counsels law firms in risk management, ethics and State Bar disciplinary matters. He has served as outside counsel to numerous law firms.
Mr. Banks is certified by the California State Bar as a specialist in Legal Malpractice Law. Mr. Banks has been rated an A-V “Preeminent Lawyer” by Martindale-Hubbell since 2001. Mr. Banks has been recognized in the publication “Northern California Super Lawyers” in 2006, and 2010 – 2020. He is listed in the peer-reviewed publication “Best Lawyers in America” and has been named in the Sacramento Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar,” which recognizes leading local attorneys after nomination and vetting by a panel of their peers. In 2017, Best Lawyers in America selected Mr. Banks as Sacramento’s litigation/real estate lawyer of the year. In 2020, Mr. Banks was recognized as a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars. Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.
Mr. Banks is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Association of Professional Liability Lawyers and the American Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, whose membership is by invitation only following an extensive peer-reviewed selection process. Mr. Banks has been a member of numerous community and charitable boards and lectures on legal ethics and law firm risk management.