James Proud

After law school, Jim served as a law clerk to the Hon Bailey Brown, Senior Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Jim then returned to Louisville and worked for a large Kentucky firm in their business litigation section.

After nearly six years of practicing law, Jim decided to take his career in a different direction and started a construction and development company, where he developed small commercial projects and built high-end homes in the Louisville area.

Jim decided to return to law practice in 2007, and worked for a year in CMBS lending before forming his own firm, where he practiced from 2008-March 2017. From June 2009-June 2013, Jim also served as in-house counsel to a real estate development and management company. While there, he negotiated leases and purchase and sale transactions and resolved lease disputes, supported a team of professionals who engaged in site selection for a large national bank, and coordinated litigation matters with outside counsel in Kentucky and Florida. Today, Jim focuses his practice on real estate transactional work, litigation of real estate disputes, and construction litigation.

In his construction practice, Jim represents owners, design professionals, and contractors of every tier. Recent construction litigation matters include construction defect matters, claims for delay damages, and payment disputes.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, JD (1992), with honors; Yale University, BA (1989), magna cum laude

Kentucky (1992); Florida (2010)

Kentucky Bar Association; Florida Bar Association

Jim enjoys spending time with his family and hiking on the many beautiful trails in Kentucky and Southern Indiana with an occasional trip to a national park out west.

Professional Accolades:  2020, “AV Preeminent”® peer review rating in Martindale-Hubbell; The Best Lawyers in America® 2022-2025 for Construction Law, 2024-2025 for Real Estate Law, and 2025 for Corporate Law.