Jonathan M. Bruce

 Jonathan Bruce is an author, lawyer and two-time Peace Corps volunteer who has recently returned from teaching in Ukraine.  He has also been a Peace Corps volunteer and university instructor in Bulgaria.  Jonathan speaks Russian, Bulgarian, French and Spanish.  He routinely uses foreign languages in his advocacy for clients. 

Before becoming licensed as an attorney, Jonathan worked at the Sacramento County Office of the Public Defender, where he researched and wrote pre-trial motions in homicide cases in the Major Crimes division.  As a public defender, felony prosecutor and lawyer in private practice, Jonathan has represented clients in federal and state district and appellate courts.   The range of his criminal cases have spanned from misdemeanors to death penalty post-conviction advocacy.   Jonathan has litigated numerous jury trials, hundreds of preliminary and pre-trial hearings in felony cases, and many other adjudicatory hearings.

Raised in Oregon, Jonathan served overseas in the U.S. Army infantry.  He earned a master’s degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor.  Prior to attending law school, Jonathan earned a doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Sofia while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria.

Jonathan’s current commitment to immigration law grows out of his international experience.   In addition to creative writing, Jonathan’s interests include ancient and modern history, intellectual history, the history of science, and Chinese and Malaysian martial arts, including tai chi, wing chun and kuntao silat.  Jonathan is currently writing his second novel about an American lawyer in Ukraine.  

Summary of Qualifications:

• Have personally handled over seven hundred assigned criminal cases
  • Have personally litigated numerous jury trials, from jury selection to final arguments, with favorable results
  • Have personally conducted over five hundred preliminary hearings in felony cases
  • Have personally litigated over thirty juvenile and family court adjudicatory hearings
• Have successfully represented Hispanic clients in and out of court in Spanish; am able to communicate in several foreign languages
• Professional training and experience in:
  • general trial and plea negotiation practice, including evidence, examination and cross-examination, working with experts, opening and closing statements, interviewing clients and witnesses, bond and motion practice, preliminary hearings, etc.
  • juvenile hearing and plea negotiation practice, including working with parents, schools, truancy personnel, juvenile justice and social workers, etc.
  • specialized training in electronic evidence and white collar crime
• Have worked with juvenile appellate attorney in numerous successful appeals of district court judicial decisions
• Licensed to practice law in Connecticut and Kentucky
• Have completed lengthy research and writing projects resulting in master's thesis and doctoral dissertation 

Commended as:

• "expedient," "polite," "skillful" and "tenacious" with "high ethical regard for the court system, counsel and clients" by prosecutor Craig Cox, Taylor County Attorney, Kentucky.
• "perfect" in work on federal capital habeas corpus petition by director of habeas corpus unit of Kentucky's Department of Public Advocacy
• "outstanding" in my work on a class action law suit with Robert Hannon, Esq.
• one of "hardest-working employees at firm" of Moskowitz & Nixdorf, LLP.
• "very good" in research project on law related to international enforcement of copyright and trademark judgments by Prof. Marc Greenberg, Golden Gate University Law School

Demonstrated self-motivation, discipline and desire to excel:

• Simultaneously worked full-time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria and earned a doctorate from the University of Sofia
• Published scholarly articles while a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley
• Attended basic and advanced mediation and negotiation training courses from expert mediators while in law school
• Have written an article to be published in Yale's "Legal Affairs" magazine