Title IX Appeals.

Pete provides guidance on all matters pertaining to collegiate athletics. Pete has more than 25 years of diversified experience representing a wide array of corporate, institutional, and individual clients in a host of different litigation and transactional matters. Pete is based in North Carolina.

Following law school and before entering the world of intercollegiate athletics, Pete was engaged in private practice in both big firms and a solo practice. While working as an associate at Stinson, Mag & Fizzell (now Stinson LLP) in Kansas City, and later as a senior associate at Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles, Pete represented many large corporations and his litigation practice was diverse and included matters such as employment discrimination, oil and gas explosions, commercial litigation, and theft of trade secrets. Pete also managed a successful solo practice focused on plaintiff’s employment discrimination and personal injury litigation. He personally investigated and built hundreds of plaintiff’s cases, including those involving child abuse, sexual assault and harassment, and discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, disability, and pregnancy. Pete never lost a case on a motion to dismiss, a motion for summary judgment, or at trial as a solo practitioner.

Pete served as Associate General Counsel at Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, for 11 years. His practice focused on intercollegiate athletics, Title IX, Title VII, the ADA, and complex transactional work. He guided hundreds of internal discrimination investigations and regularly provided training for internal investigators. Pete also successfully defended discrimination claims, including disability and sex discrimination matters. He has been a repeat guest speaker for an intercollegiate athletics class at Columbia University’s Sports Management program, and he has presented at the National Association of College and University Attorney’s national conference on Title IX matters. Pete continues to work in intercollegiate athletics.

Pete graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Biology. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Bruce serves our clientele as a highly experienced Title IX Decision Maker and informal resolution mediator. His talents as an investigator and analyst were honed over the course of his distinguished 38 year career as an Assistant United States Attorney, an Assistant State Attorney General in North Carolina, and as a highly-regarded Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force. Bruce is based in Florida.

After law school, Bruce prosecuted cases in the Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Princeton, West Virginia for four years. Bruce left West Virginia to join the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate, where he served on active duty for eight years, including a tour as a Circuit Counsel prosecuting dozens of courts-martial at over 20 bases in multiple states. After leaving active duty, Bruce served five years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of North Carolina, assigned to the Mental Health Section of the Division of Health and Human Services. While there he represented the state in state and federal courts in contested personnel cases and in alleged civil rights violations and whistleblower retaliation allegations, among many complaints. Bruce then joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in Orlando, Florida, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 16 years prior to retirement. While there, among many complex cases, he lead a multi-agency task force that prosecuted a Ponzi scheme operator who bilked thousands of investors out of more than $200 million dollars and convicted 42 members of a multi-level cocaine smuggling conspiracy. He also successfully prosecuted two federal correctional officers for bribing a federal inmate to assault another inmate, resulting in the latter’s death.

After leaving active duty in the Air Force and concurrent with his civilian career, Bruce continued to serve as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was an instructor and featured lecturer at the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School for over a decade in the 1990s, teaching basic and advanced litigation courses each year, and he served a tour as a military judge. He also earned extensive management experience while serving as the Senior Reserve Judge Advocate in three major commands (Special Operations Command, Space Command, and Air Combat Command) where he supervised scores of junior military attorneys at bases throughout the country. In 2012, Bruce was hand-picked to serve as the Chief of Staff and Staff Judge Advocate at U.S. Central Command’s Office of the Defense Representative for Pakistan, located in the U.S. Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan. While there, Bruce was the leader of a U.S. inter-agency team negotiating an agreement with the Government of Pakistan to permit the transit of U.S. and NATO supplies into and out of Afghanistan across Pakistan territory. For his significant accomplishments during this last tour, the Secretary of Defense awarded Bruce the Defense Superior Service Medal, the second highest peace-time award in the Department of Defense.

Bruce graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with Honors, majoring in Political Science and History. He is a graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.

Bruce is a co-founder and Executive Director of BartlettJames LLC. Bruce is a seasoned Title IX decision maker. He oversees the daily operations of the firm and chairs our Executive Committee. Bruce and co-founder Bert Nunley designed our nationally-regarded team with broad-based investigative capabilities, specifically tailored to address the increasing needs for transparent, in-depth and thorough investigations for institutions of higher learning. Bruce’s vision, enthusiasm and tireless work ethic shapes the strategic trajectory for the BartlettJames team in its engagements around the nation and the globe. Bruce is based in South Carolina.

Bruce is a retired federal Administrative Law Judge, having most recently completed service of 11 years with the Department of Homeland Security in 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has presided over innumerable hearings involving sensitive and highly-classified matters relating to national security, including several highly publicized trials involving ranking government officials, major air carriers, and licensed maritime officers. He is also a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and Judge Advocate, having served 21 years as a decorated aviator, military prosecutor, investigator, and Military Judge on active duty and in the reserves. Among his many military and civilian awards is the prestigious Award for Trial Advocacy presented by the New York City Bar Association.

In the course of his employment as a Judge Advocate and Administrative Law Judge, Bruce has conducted numerous highly classified investigations into sensitive matters of national security and interpersonal relationships both in the United States and abroad. His military duties included serving as a senior legal counsel on a variety of topics, including employee discipline, adherence to civil rights, and oversight of federal and state law enforcement conduct, including use of force cases.

Bruce is an Honor Graduate from the Washburn University School of Law and served on the board of editors of the Washburn Law Journal. He holds an LL.M. in International Law from the Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, located in Charlottesville, Virginia.