Jim Breckenridge

Shareholder, Attorney

Fidelity & Surety

(816) 460-1839

Jim Breckenridge

Shareholder, Attorney

Fidelity & Surety

Jim is a member of the firm’s Litigation, Surety, and Fidelity team where he helps clients with business disputes and investigates and litigates claims for fidelity and surety providers. His work includes asset tracing, overseeing and coordinating discovery efforts, and interfacing with state and federal authorities for sunshine law and Freedom of Information Act requests.

A successful litigator, Jim has secured favorable dispositive motion outcomes on behalf of numerous clients. He is actively involved in the Kansas City legal community and has served on several boards including The Jackson County Law Library, Kansas City Lesbian, Gay and Allied Lawyers, and The Clinic, a deportation defense non-profit.

Before becoming a lawyer, Jim worked as a Spanish language interpreter for the U.S. Departments of State and Justice.

With the right counsel, negotiating and discovering answers to problems is a real possibility for people who find themselves in disputes.

Career Achievements

  • Successfully argued at the Missouri Court of Appeals, securing a win on a client’s appeal
  • Won life-saving relief for a client under the UN Convention against Torture — granted to less than 3% of petitioners

Activities

  • Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, since 2014
  • LGBTQ Bar Association of Greater Kansas City, since 2013
  • American Bar Association, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee

Published Works & Presentations

  • Building Accord between Museums and Tribes: NAGPRA in Practice, 2 UMKC L. Rev. De Jure 67, 2014
  • “Fraud with 21st Century Documents,” ABA Fidelity and Surety Law Committee, with David Spielbauer, November 2022
  • “Guardian and Conservator Bond Case Management: Best Practices,” Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Newsletter, The American Bar Association, Fall 2017
  • Kansas and Missouri, with Lawrence Lerner, Surety Underwriters Deskbook, 2017
  • “Multilingual Best Practices,” Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, 2017
  • “Redefining Marriage in the 21st Century: Constitutional Law and Famous Cases,” UMKC Graduate Art History Association, 2014
  • “Same-Sex Marriage and Judicial Independence,” with Former Iowa Supreme Court Justices Marsha Ternus and Michael Streit, UMKC Law, 2013
  • “Using Professional Court Interpreters, Mitigating Risk in a Multilingual Legal Setting,” Missouri Bar Association CLE, 2010
  • Verdicts, with the Hon. John R. O’Malley, Chapter 43, Missouri Bar Civil Benchbook
  • “Writing Ethics about Interpreting,” National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, Annual Conference, 2009

Education

  • J.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Kansas City, Missouri, 2014
  • CALI Award — International Business Transactions
  • Appellate Practice Clinic
  • Diplôme d’université, Université de Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France, 2012, Valedictorian
  • M.A., Conference Interpreting, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California, 2009
  • B.A. with distinction, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2002

Honors

  • Diversity & Inclusion Award, 2018
  • Up & Coming Attorney Award, Missouri Lawyers Media, 2018

Bar Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, 2017
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, 2016
  • U.S. District Court, District of Kansas, 2016
  • Missouri, 2015
  • Kansas, 2015
  • North Carolina, 2020