James M. Sullivan has litigated a wide range of matters before state and federal courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court, a number of U.S. Circuit Courts, and various federal and state trial courts. His experience includes writing trial and appellate briefs, taking expert and fact witness depositions, and participating in all aspects of trial preparation. Mr. Sullivan also has experience evaluating environmental, products liability, and other litigation exposure for potential corporate acquisitions. He has extensive experience with multidistrict litigation, mass tort proceedings, class actions, Daubert issues, punitive damages, choice-of-law, federal preemption, and civil and appellate procedure in general. He also has experience in the Firm’s environmental practice, including with issues arising under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
Mr. Sullivan is co-leader of the Firm’s E-Discovery group. He has guided clients through all phases of corporate discovery. He routinely works with clients on corporate fact investigation, document preservation, preparation of written discovery responses, and preparation of company witnesses for testifying at depositions or trials. He negotiates protective orders and other joint filings with opposing counsel, and has briefed and argued a broad range of motions arising from the discovery process such as motions regarding scope of discovery, confidentiality, and privilege issues. His experience includes serving as ESI Liaison counsel for defendants in federal multidistrict litigation and coordinated state court litigation. He has supervised document productions ranging from thousands to tens of millions of pages of documents and regularly counsels clients regarding information governance, litigation preparedness, and E-Discovery issues. His E-Discovery practice is informed by his broad experience in pretrial, trial, and appellate practice. In his combined experience prior to and with Hollingsworth LLP, he has participated in more than twenty jury trials, numerous bench trials, and in more than a hundred appeals.
Mr. Sullivan has presented at national E-Discovery conferences, and published regarding E-Discovery, civil procedure, and appellate procedure in legal magazines such as ALM’s Legaltech News, DRI’s In-House Defense Quarterly, and DRI’s For the Defense. He reports on significant appellate jurisdiction and procedure cases from the District of Columbia Circuit and Federal Circuit as Regional Editor of Certworthy (the newsletter of the DRI Appellate Advocacy Committee). He is a member of The Sedona Conference. On several occasions, he has returned to his alma mater Georgetown University Law Center to serve as an E-Discovery coach to the attorneys, discovery vendors, and other practitioners who attend Georgetown’s eDiscovery Training Academy. Mr. Sullivan is recognized in the 2023 Washington, DC edition of Super Lawyers for E-Discovery and was listed in previous Washington, DC editions of Super Lawyers as a Rising Star.
Mr. Sullivan serves as Chair of the Firm’s pro bono program. He has experience with a diverse group of pro bono representations, including immigration, Social Security Disability, and child custody matters. He joined the Firm following a clerkship with the Honorable Myron H. Bright of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During his clerkship, he worked on cases on appeal before the Sixth Circuit, Eighth Circuit, and Ninth Circuit. He previously served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Leonard N. Zito of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Sullivan was Managing Editor of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. He remains active with Georgetown University Law Center, including as a J.D. admissions interviewer. As a former player, Mr. Sullivan also serves as an alumni mentor to student athletes on the Wesleyan University football team.
Publications
Drafting an Effective Statement of Undisputed Facts
Preserving Foreign Privacy Law Objections
Managing Appeals in Multidistrict Litigation
Associations & Affiliations
• Defense Research Institute (DRI)
• District of Columbia Bar E-Discovery Committee
• Wesleyan Lawyers Association
