Jones Mayer is pleased to announce Bruce Gridley has joined the firm as a senior litigator. Gridley received his JD from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law where he learned what it was like to be a litigator, a profession he had been interested in since watching Perry Mason.
Following law school, Gridley joined a midsize insurance defense firm, providing him with the opportunity to get into the courtroom at the early stages of his legal career. Always an “intellectual adventurer,” Gridley enjoyed taking on any case he could, knowing he would learn more about the relevant law and develop his trial skills as he prepared for and litigated the case.
After starting a firm with another attorney, Gridley continued practicing in the area of insurance defense and construction defect litigation, before moving into the practice of public entity law. His experience in public entity law encompasses both contract and litigation practice. When asked about his public entity work, he notes, “For the last thirty years, my focus has been in defense of public entities or, more appropriately, advocacy for public entities.”
Gridley’s practice has covered a number of notable public entity law projects, but two in particular stand out. First, he was involved in the legal battle to bring the Intuit Dome, the future home of the Los Angeles Clippers, to Inglewood. His role included handling eminent domain work to acquire land to improve access for the arena and litigating several lawsuits brought in an attempt to block construction of the development.
The second project of note is Gridley’s work on the litigation for two of the Los Angeles transit projects. For the Alameda Corridor East Authority, he was involved in developing the infrastructure that made it possible to move products from the Port of Los Angeles to Inland Empire Warehouses. Additionally, he had the pleasure of working on a portion of litigation involving the Red Line in Los Angeles’s mass transit light rail system.
Through his work on the Intuit Dome project and the Los Angeles transit projects, Gridley says, “I look at the community as it’s evolved through the years and feel like I can say there’s a part of this community I have made, which is very gratifying.”
In joining Jones Mayer, Gridley believes he has found the “perfect law firm” for him, given his extensive background in litigation, specifically public entity litigation. He wants to continue being a highly challenged litigator. That goal, combined with the congeniality of Jones Mayer, provides an opportunity for high-level law practice.
When he is not practicing law, Gridley is active in the Presbyterian church, serving as an elder in his local congregation and on the Committee on Ministry as part of the larger body of the Presbyterian denomination. Additionally, he is greatly devoted to the life of the University of Southern California as an alum of the law school, where he has served on many alumni committees. And if you’re looking for Gridley at seven o’clock on a Saturday morning, you can find him each week delivering bread to the North Valley Caring Services Food Pantry in North Hills.
Please join us in welcoming Bruce Gridley to Jones Mayer. For more information, call (714) 446-1400.