Associate Attorney

James G. Gilyard

Associate; San Francisco State University (B.A. Psychology, 1994); University of San Francisco School of Law (J.D. 1999)

James Gilyard joined Brayton Purcell as an associate attorney in 2010 and is active in our asbestos litigation practice at our Novato, California office.

Mr. Gilyard attended law school at the University of San Francisco School of Law and graduated with his J.D. in 1999. While in law school he served an externship for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Upon completion of law school, he served as a judicial law clerk for the United States District Court of Northern District of California under the Hon. Judge Martin J. Jenkins. He previously attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Prior to joining Brayton Purcell, Mr. Gilyard litigated in several diverse practice areas, including: Intellectual Property, Environmental, Products Liability, Family, Employment, Eminent Domain, Plaintiffs’ Consumer Protection Class Actions and Plaintiffs’ Securities Class Actions.

He also practiced federal plaintiffs’ Consumer and Securities Class Action litigation at Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, handling cases involving high profile defendants (e.g., WorldCom, Household Bank). His most noteworthy accomplishment was managing a consumer class action against two international financial institutions to a $10.5 million dollar settlement.

Mr. Gilyard has a very diverse pre–legal background. He served four years as an active duty United States Marine as a heavy artillery crewmember and obtained his 5–ton truck and forklift licenses. He also has extensive knowledge in automobile maintenance and repair, and enjoys car restoration in his spare time.

Mr. Gilyard is admitted to practice in California and is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California.