Jim Bruton concentrates in civil and criminal tax controversies and the defense of white-collar criminal cases. Selected as one of the ten best tax lawyers by Legal Times (July 2005), and identified as one of "Washington's Top Lawyers" by Washingtonian magazine (December 2004 and 2009), he has extensive experience handling administrative cases within the Internal Revenue Service, including individual, partnership, and corporate examinations, collection activity, penalties, appeals, injunctions, tax shelters, and the defense of tax practitioner sanctions. He has tried and handled cases in the United States Tax Court, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and several United States district courts. He has briefed and argued numerous cases in virtually all of the United States Courts of Appeals, including several en banc appeals.

Mr. Bruton's experience defending criminal cases initiated by the Internal Revenue Service includes prosecutions under Chapter 75 of the Internal Revenue Code; currency reporting cases under Title 31 of the United States Code; money laundering prosecutions and related asset forfeitures; and related federal criminal prosecutions. In addition to Internal Revenue cases, he has successfully defended federal investigations and prosecutions involving Defense Department contracts, health care providers, securities, Customs reporting, and allegations of fraud, including civil and criminal RICO cases.

Mr. Bruton is a fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. He is active in the Tax Section of the American Bar Association, Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties and Special Projects Committees. He is past Chair of the Tax Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association Litigation Section and is past Co-Chair of the Committee on Tax Audits and Litigation of the District of Columbia Bar.

Mr. Bruton became a partner in the firm in 1987. He left in September 1989 when he was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the Justice Department in September of 1989. He returned to the firm in May 1993.