James A. Dumas, Jr., the firm’s founder, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Pre-Medical Studies in 1973, after studying there and at universities in Goettingen, Germany and Tel Aviv, Israel. He received his Juris Doctor in 1977 from the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the Southern California Law Review. During law school, he clerked with the prominent personal injury attorney David Harney. From 1977 to 1978, Mr. Dumas served as clerk to Judge Jessie W. Curtis at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Prior to starting Dumas & Associates in 1981, he was an associate in the law firm of Morrison Foerster. Between 1987 and 2001 he served as Bankruptcy Trustee in the Central District of California. He is fluent in French and German.
Mr. Dumas is a former member of the panel of bankruptcy trustees in the Central District of California and he has represented at least twelve other members of the Central District bankruptcy panel. He has experience with jury trials and has appeared in and is admitted to all four federal districts in the State of California. He has argued appeals before the 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate panel, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the California Court of Appeal. On a pro hac vice basis, he has appeared in the federal district and bankruptcy courts of the states of Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, New York, Alabama, Georgia, and New Jersey. He has appeared before the Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. and the Court of International Arbitration in London.
The following are some of his career highlights:
– As counsel for a Chapter 7 trustee, achieving a $36 million litigation recovery for a bankruptcy estate which paid out $17 million to creditors in a case which was originally filed as a “no asset” case with only $800,000 in identified creditors. In re Charter Hendrix LLP.
– As counsel for a Chapter 7 trustee, achieving a $6 million fraudulent transfer recovery for a bankruptcy estate, all of which was paid out to creditors, in a case that was originally filed as a no asset case with $600,000 in identified creditors. In re Southwest Leasing, Inc.
– Serving as counsel for the husband in a divorce that so spun out of control that over the course of three years the client’s litigation opponents sought to thwart his attempts to salvage his assets by suing him through various proxies forty-five times in four states and filing thirteen bankruptcies, including a bitterly contested and ultimately unsuccessful involuntary bankruptcy against the client. In the state, federal, and bankruptcy courts of the states of California, Nevada, Alabama, and Georgia, Mr. Dumas litigated for four years against over sixty law firms that had received over $5 million in funding from the largely wrongful liquidation of the clients’ assets. Mr. Dumas ultimately defeated the involuntary petition and achieved a multi-million dollar cash recovery for the client while three of the litigation opponents were convicted of felonies and served time in federal prison for the crimes committed against the client. In re Ami Shafrir.”