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James Kachmar

Shareholder

Sacramento

916.558.6122

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Practice Areas

Bar Admissions

  • California
  • Nevada

Experience

James, a shareholder in the Firm’s Litigation and Labor and Employment groups, has nearly 20 years of experience litigating a variety of business and employment matters in California and Nevada.

His practice focuses on representing individual and corporate clients in cases involving trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition, employment issues, shareholder disputes, and other complex business matters. James also counsels and represents charter schools in a variety of matters. In addition, James serves as the Firm’s Ethics/Loss Prevention Counsel.

With significant courtroom experience, James works with clients to ensure that their objectives are identified early on and that a litigation strategy is pursued towards obtaining the client’s goals cost-effectively and efficiently. His courtroom successes include:

  • James helped obtain a defense verdict after a four-month jury trial for a retired title insurance executive accused of trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition by his former employer.
  • After a two-week jury trial, James obtained a plaintiff’s verdict, including punitive damages, for unfair competition on behalf of a charter school client against a competing charter school. He had previously obtained a preliminary injunction against some of the client’s former employees.
  • James assisted with obtaining a writ of mandate on behalf of three nationally recognized charter schools, which prevented the Oakland Unified School District from closing them.
  • James successfully moved the Court for summary adjudication of contract claims against the majority shareholders of a local beverage distribution company, preserving their ownership interests in the company.
  • James obtained summary judgment for a California agency on a malicious prosecution claim brought against it by a political operative.
  • James helped prosecute a trade secret misappropriation claim against former distributors of a multi-level marketing company, including the issuance of a preliminary injunction after a two-day evidentiary hearing.
  • James obtained a defense verdict in his first jury trial on behalf of a major U.S. tire manufacturer in a vehicle rollover case.
  • James helped prosecute a two-week jury trial on claims for abuse of process and malicious prosecution, resulting in the jury awarding his client $1.7 Million, including punitive damages.

In addition to his trial work, James also presents employment-law seminars throughout the year and writes for the Firm’s Employment, Intellectual Property, and Trade Secret Blogs. Prior to law school, James traveled twice to newly-independent Ukraine to teach English, including a position at the Institute of National Economy in Ternopil. James enjoys running and cooking in his spare time.

State Bar of California, Litigation Section
Member

Sacramento County Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law Section
Member

Meritas, Sacramento
Member

Awards

Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2015-2020 – General Litigation, Business Litigation, Litigation Intellectual Property

Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2020, 2021 – Litigation Intellectual Property

Northern California Super Lawyers, 2016-2022

AV® Preeminent™ Rating, Martindale-Hubbell

J.D., with great distinction, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 1997

B.A., University of California, Irvine, 1992

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Super Lawyers has released its Northern California, Southern California and San Diego lists of outstanding attorneys for 2018, on which 37 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included. Five Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition as a Top 25 Sacramento Super Lawyer. Weintraub Tobin attorneys named to the 2018 Southern California…

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Super Lawyers has released its Northern California, Southern California, and San Diego lists of outstanding attorneys for 2017, on which 36 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included. Six Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special recognition as a Top 25 Sacramento Super Lawyer. Weintraub Tobin attorneys named to the 2017 Southern California…

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Super Lawyers has released its Northern California, Southern California, and San Diego lists of outstanding attorneys for 2016, on which 33 Weintraub Tobin attorneys have been included. Three Weintraub Tobin attorneys received special honors in their respective regions. Weintraub Tobin attorneys named to the 2016 Southern California and San Diego Super…

Ninth Circuit Refuses to Adopt “Ordinary Observer” Test for Substantial Similarity and Copyright Infringement

by James Kachmar
The IP Law Blog

The Ninth Circuit was recently asked to determine whether to continue to apply the Circuit’s two-part extrinsic/intrinsic test for “substantial similarity” with regard to a copyright infringement claim or to depart from this approach and apply the Second Circuit’s “ordinary observer” test instead. In Johannsongs-Publishing, Ltd. v. Lovland, an unpublished…