James M. Bolus Jr. - Louisville, KY

Overview

James M. Bolus, Jr. (Bo) was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky where he graduated from Waggener High School in 1984. Bo earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky . He was initiated into Beta Alpha Psi, the National Accounting Fraternity, in 1987. He graduated UK with a B.S. in Accounting, with Distinction, in 1988.

Bo attended the University of Kentucky College of Law. During law school he clerked in the summers for Frank E. Haddad, Jr. (1928-1995), the preeminent Louisville criminal defense attorney. He also clerked in the Lexington offices of an insurance defense firm, Clark, Ward & Cave, during the law school year.

Upon graduation from law school in 1991, Bo took an associate position in the Louisville offices of Clark, Ward & Cave. There Bo's law practice focused mainly on defending insured drivers, physicians and/or entities where there were allegations of negligence or other inappropriate conduct, including violating state and/or federal civil rights statutes. Bo was permitted, however, to take select plaintiff cases and in 1995 he achieved a $1,000,000 settlement for an injured client in an automobile negligence case. The client suffered a brain injury and pelvis fracture when the motor vehicle in which she was a passenger was t-boned at an intersection by a vehicle whose driver was disregarding pertinent traffic laws.

In 1995 Bo started his own plaintiff's practice in the Kentucky Home Life Building in downtown Louisville. In 2010 Bolus Law Offices purchased and moved to its present location at 600 West Main Street, Suite 500, with its 11,000 square feet and state-of-the art technology .

Bo's early years were spent representing defendants in jury trials, where he had an unblemished trial record. His defense background has proved invaluable for his current plaintiff dominated clientele for whom he has recovered millions of dollars. Preparation and attention to detail is the code by which he lives in representing the every person against private and/or governmental defendants.

Bo is admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of Kentucky, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States District Court Eastern District of Kentucky, the United States District Court Western District of Kentucky, and the United States District Court Southern District of Indiana.

Bo is a member of The American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) which is comprised of The Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Membership into ATLA is by invitation and is extended only to those attorneys who exemplify superior qualifications, trial results, leadership, influence, reputation, stature, and profile in the trial attorney community. In 2020 Bo was named the Kentucky Trial Court Review (KTCR) Plaintiff Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2020. Additionally, Bo was inducted into the Kentucky Trial Court Review (KTCR) Hall of Fame in 2023.

He currently lives in Floyds Knobs, Indiana where his wife, Tana, was born and raised. Tana is a registered nurse who worked in Audubon Hospital's Emergency Room for over 20 years. She now devotes her professional time to reviewing medical records and other case materials for Bolus Law Offices and select other lawyers in the Louisville area. Tana attended Floyd Central High School and Indiana University. She has four boys with Bo whose mother, Suzanne, and sister, Jennifer, still live in Louisville. Bo's father, Jim Bolus (1943-1997), was a prominent sports journalist and historian on topics including the Kentucky Derby and college football. Jim Bolus authored a number of books about the Kentucky Derby and co-authored Louisville Cardinal Football the officially licensed text chronicling the history of the University of Louisville football program. Jim Bolus was the curator of the Kentucky Derby Museum where the Jim Bolus Collection of research materials relative to horse racing is available online.