Our Attorneys and Staff

James F. Scafide, Prin­ci­pal
Tyler Sprague, Attorney

James F. Scafide
Principal

Mr. Scafide has been prac­tic­ing law for more than twenty years, and has served in a num­ber of chief advi­sory roles, includ­ing serv­ing as the Gen­eral Coun­sel for a pub­lic com­pany and a Divi­sion Chief for the Mass­a­chu­setts Attor­ney Gen­eral. Mr. Scafide brings a wealth of both pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tor expe­ri­ence. He has worked on sophis­ti­cated busi­ness trans­ac­tions, includ­ing a multi-million dol­lar acqui­si­tion of a multi-national com­pany. Hav­ing drafted OEM man­u­fac­tur­ing agree­ments, inter­na­tional licens­ing agree­ments, joint devel­op­ment agree­ments, and other sophis­ti­cated transaction-related doc­u­ments, Mr. Scafide is extremely famil­iar with the intri­cate nuances of busi­ness trans­ac­tions.  Mr. Scafide is also adept at com­plex civil lit­i­ga­tion, hav­ing appeared numer­ous times before civil courts and reg­u­lat­ing agen­cies and enti­ties. “I like help­ing peo­ple achieve their dreams,” Scafide said.  “Help­ing my clients gives me per­sonal satisfaction.”

Mr. Scafide’s com­mit­ment to help­ing oth­ers started at a young age. At 18 years old, he was elected to the City Coun­cil of East Liv­er­pool, Ohio, where he served two terms. At 26, he was elected Mayor. “I was taught by my par­ents the impor­tance of help­ing oth­ers, and how we are all part of a larger com­mu­nity. That’s how I approach my prac­tice of the law.”

After law school, Mr. Scafide joined the law firm of Testa, Hur­witz & Thibeault, LLP, in Boston, Mass­a­chu­setts, where he prac­ticed busi­ness law. He was Gen­eral Coun­sel for Presstek, Inc., a publicly-traded company.

In 2006, Mr. Scafide was tapped by Mass­a­chu­setts Attor­ney Gen­eral Martha Coak­ley to run a new divi­sion that she ini­ti­ated: the Busi­ness, Tech­nol­ogy, and Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Divi­sion (BTED). Attor­ney Gen­eral Coak­ley chose Mr. Scafide because of his com­mit­ment to pub­lic ser­vice and the unique qual­ity of his deep pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tor experience.

After a dis­tin­guished career in pub­lic ser­vice, Mr. Scafide relo­cated to Cal­i­for­nia and joined the law firm of Buy­nak, Fau­ver, Arch­bald & Spray, where his prac­tice focused on Busi­ness Law, Land Use and; Real Estate Law, Trusts and Estates, and Gov­ern­ment Relations.

On June 1, 2014, Mr. Scafide founded Scafide Law Firm, PC, a pro­fes­sional legal cor­po­ra­tion char­tered in Cal­i­for­nia. With offices in Cal­i­for­nia and Mass­a­chu­setts, Scafide law serves clients from coast to coast.

Mr. Scafide grad­u­ated from Kent State Uni­ver­sity, earned his Mas­ters in Pub­lic Admin­is­tra­tion from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Gov­ern­ment, his JD magna cum laude from Boston Col­lege Law School, and his LL.M. from Har­vard Law School.

Tyler in State Street Office

Tyler Sprague
Attorney

Tyler’s inter­ests in the legal realm cen­ter around busi­ness and land use law with an empha­sis on the laws and reg­u­la­tions sur­round­ing craft brew­eries. Tyler is the trea­surer of the Santa Ynez Val­ley Bar Asso­ci­a­tion, is on the board of Inspired Works, a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion located in the Santa Ynez Val­ley and was pre­vi­ously a mem­ber of the William L. Gor­don Inns of Court in Santa Bar­bara. Tyler grad­u­ated as vale­dic­to­rian and top of his law school class and passed the Feb­ru­ary 2017 Cal­i­for­nia State Bar Exam. In addi­tion to being admit­ted to the Cal­i­for­nia State Bar, Tyler has been admit­ted to prac­tice in the Cen­tral Dis­trict Fed­eral Court of California.

Tyler spent the pre­vi­ous five years as a wild­land Firefighter/ EMT for the State of Cal­i­for­nia in the foothills of the north­ern Sierra Nevada Moun­tains spe­cial­iz­ing in tech­ni­cal res­cue and fire management.

Tyler earned a Bach­e­lor of Arts degree in His­tory from the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Santa Cruz in addi­tion to an Asso­ciates of Sci­ence Degree in Fire Tech­nol­ogy. When he is not work­ing or study­ing Tyler fol­lows a num­ber of pur­suits in the spirit of the mod­ern renaissance-man: tend­ing to his ever-expanding veg­etable gar­den, explor­ing fer­men­ta­tion through brew­ing and dis­till­ing, as well as mak­ing his own char­cu­terie and cheese.

At Scafide Law Firm, we’re here to help oth­ers achieve their dreams. It’s what we do. It’s what makes us different.