James Sears Bryant

Position: Founder/Chairman

James Bryant founded and co-owns National Litigation Law Group. Throughout his career he has innovated solutions for a wide variety of complicated problems.

James led the litigation against the NCAA that enabled a small NAIA school in Texas to become a full member of the NCAA Division I without waiting the full probationary period, which ultimately led many other institutions to follow, fundamentally changing the landscape of collegiate athletics.

He also fashioned the use of immunity for the first time in an NCAA investigation that not only preserved a student-athlete’s eligibility at what is now a Big 12 football program, but also resulted in lessening the sanctions against that University’s athletic program.

As Special Counsel charged with investigating the university’s handling of sexual assaults at both a Big 10 and a Big 12 university, his work led to the implementation of new and improved practices and procedures dealing with these issues.

Mr. Bryant also served in-house positions at a number of universities, including The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and Union Theological Seminary of New York City. He was Special Counsel to the Boards of the University of Iowa and The Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges (Oklahoma State University).

He has taught at the University of Louisville, Wichita State University, and Oklahoma City University School of Law. He has given guest lectures at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, the William and Mary School of Law, and the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Bryant became a Tower Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. He has served as a board member for three liberal arts colleges and two national operating non-profits.

As a professional sports attorney, he represented four NBA All Stars, among the over 30 players for which he was an agent and represented dozens more as their lawyer. He also represented a Division I Conference. Bryant previously served as President of ProServ Basketball and a Vice President of ProServ as well as Counsel to ProServ Television. He was involved as counsel in the litigation between the NBA players and owners during two lockouts and also negotiated the contract to purchase an NBA franchise in the upper Midwest.

James owns a film company in Los Angeles, Jesse James Films. His film “What the Hell Happened to Blood Sweat and Tears” was released in over 100 theaters in 2023 and was nominated and a finalist for Critics’ Choice Music Documentary Of The Year.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE:
Member, Oklahoma House of Representatives
Assistant District Attorney, Oklahoma
Special Judge, Oklahoma
Associate District Judge, Oklahoma
District Judge, Oklahoma

ADMISSIONS:
Oklahoma
District of Columbia
Texas
Missouri

BAR & PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:
Oklahoma Advisory Committee to The United States Civil Rights Commission (Member)
Former Editorial Board member, Journal of College and University Law, Notre Dame Law School

PUBLISHED WORKS:
Book co-author “Bridging the Gaps – A Field Guide to Networks,” (Lucas Park Books, St. Louis, Missouri, 2008)
Book author “Liberal Arts Colleges in Crises. The Transformation of the Eureka College Board,” (Southwestern University Press, Winfield, Kansas, 2012)
Co-author “Laws, Not Lawyers: How States Can Protect Nonprofit Leaders From Litigation,” (Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 2, 2007)
Co-author “Protecting Nonprofit Directors and Scarce Resources,” (Journal of Payment Systems Law, July/August 2007)
Co-author “Representing the Oklahoma Athlete in NCAA Investigations,” (62 Oklahoma Bar Journal 3815, 1991)
Author “Retroactive Taxation: A Constitutional Analysis of the Minimum Tax on Intangible Drilling Costs,” (36 Oklahoma Law Review 107, 1983)

EDUCATION:
Phillips University, B.S.
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, J.D.
Brandeis University, M.A., Crown Fellow
Dartmouth College, M.A.
University of Pennsylvania, Ed.D., Honors for thesis