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James Bostwick is one of the most respected medical malpractice and personal injury lawyers in the nation. As Founder of Bostwick & Peterson, he’s cultivated a reputation as a top-tier specialist in catastrophic malpractice cases and has secured numerous record-setting verdicts and settlements. He is one of a few lawyers in the U.S. deemed a Certified Medical Malpractice Specialist by the American Board of Professional Liability.

Bostwick has spent more than 50 years specializing in complex medical malpractice and personal injury law and has set the bar for litigating some of the most complex and high-stakes cases in the country. He has set and broken many records – many of them his own. In 1979, Bostwick obtained the largest medical malpractice verdict in U.S. history and spent the years since setting state and national records for high-value recoveries in legal malpractice, birth injury, and other personal injury claims. In early 2018, he obtained a $14M malpractice settlement just before trial over a neonatal brain injury. At the time, the result was the largest present value settlement in California history for a case that had not been tried to verdict.

Bostwick has earned widespread recognition from many organizations. He is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, an invite-only organization limited to the top 100 plaintiffs’ lawyers in the U.S. (and considered the most exclusive trial lawyer organization in the world), the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (Top 500 trial lawyers in the US), American Board of Trial Advocates, and Lawdragon 500. He’s been named to Best Lawyers in America every year since its inception in 1983, rated among the Top 4 Trial Lawyers by the California Bar Journal, and featured in Newsweek, Town and Country, and Forbes as one of America’s top trial lawyers.

Contact & Links
Location
  • 38 Keyes Avenue, Suite 115
    San Francisco, CA 94129
Education
  • University of California Hastings College of the Law, Juris Doctor
  • University of Washington
Affiliations
  • American Board of Professional Liability (Certification of special competence on the field of professional liability) - Founding Member
  • American Board of Trial Advocates - Invited Member since 2003
  • Inner Circle of Advocates (Top 100 plaintiffs’ trial lawyers in the US) - Invited Member since 2002
  • International Academy of Trial Lawyers (Top 500 trial lawyers in the US) - Past President (2003) Invited Fellow since 1992

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2012 - Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs, San Francisco (2012)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024 for work in:
  • Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs
  • Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs
Special Focus:
  • Automobile
  • Automobile Collision
  • Birth Trauma
  • Brain Injury
  • Catastrophic Injury
  • Civil Litigation
  • Hospital Malpractice
  • Litigation
  • Medical Devices
  • Medical Malpractice
  • Medical Negligence
  • Personal Injury
  • Product Liability
  • Professional Malpractice
  • Wrongful Death
Awards:
  • Best Lawyers in America (1983-present)
  • Super Lawyers Magazine (2004-present)

  • Lawdragon 500 Hall of Fame

  • National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers National Finalist, Medical Malpractice (2019)
  • Best Lawyers “Trial Lawyer of the Year” (2012 and 2013)

  • Top 4 Trial Lawyers, California Bar Journal

  • Top 5 Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyers in SF (Chronicle)

  • Top 60 Trial Lawyers in America (Forbes, Town & Country)

  • Consumer Attorneys of California Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee, 2000

  • Presidential Award of Merit, Consumer Attorneys of California, 2000
  • San Francisco Trial Lawyers Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee, 1978

Additional Areas of Practice:
  • Medical Malpractice Law
  • Personal Injury Litigation
  • Product Liability Litigation
  • Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs
  • Professional Malpractice Law

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