James Sokolove

James G. Sokolove (born October 4, 1944) is an American personal injury attorney building one of the first nationally personal injury law forma in the U.S. and pioneering the use of television advertising to connect injured individuals with legal representation. Although he retired in 2013, Sokolove Law continues to try cases.

The son of a personal injury lawyer, Sokolove was raised in Revere, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1966 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1969. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1969, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1970, and to the New York Bar in 1991 .He also received a certificate in 1990 from Harvard Business School. When Sokolove's father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, he took his father's place leading the family law firm. After several years, the law firm dissolved, Overwhelmed by an influx of clients, he began referring clients to affiliate law firms for a portion of the legal fees they earned. The strategy was profitable enough that he told the Boston Business Journal in 1999 that by franchising his law firm he would "do for law what Staples did for office products."

As of 2010, Sokolove's law office consisted of 80 employees and had over 300 affiliate firms in the United States.

He is known for the controversial style of his advertisements, which he describes as following a specific formula that boils down to "Injured? Free money". Sokolove is a supporter of the Democratic party, having donated over $250,000 in the past 10 years. During the 2008 presidential election, he participated in door to door canvassing on behalf of Barack Obama. In 1987, he launched Cycleline, a motorcycle safety education campaign, for which he received the 1988 Public Service Award from the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the National Safety Council. In 1989, he was awarded a certificate of merit by Students Against Drunk Driving, and in 1990 he established the James Sokolove Personal Best Awards and the Special Young Visions Art Competition, which for six years recognized achievements by young people with disabilities. support for the Roadmap to Justice Project, aimed at expanding access to legal services for low- and middle-income individuals. The project convened over one hundred experts in two forums (Boston, October 2008; Stanford, March 2009) and produced a 2012 white paper by Stanford law professor Deborah L. Rhode and Dmitry Bam.