Attorneys

Jim was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Rice University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 1999, he earned his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law. There he received recognition from Phi Delta Phi, an international legal fraternity, for achieving the highest grade in Evidence. Jim also served on the South Texas Law Review and was presented the Durham, Hawes, Hering & Jordan Award for Outstanding Editing in Law Review. He was admitted to practice in all Texas state courts in 1999, and subsequently in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before joining the firm in 2010, Jim practiced in the litigation and appellate sections of the law firm of Marshall & McCracken, P.C. As an associate, he participated in the Texas Supreme Court's landmark decision in American Transitional Care Centers of Texas, Inc. v. Palacios, which revolutionized the manner in which Texas courts consider and rule upon the adequacy of expert reports in medical-malpractice cases. Jim has several more published appeals to his credit, and has authored more than 35 appellate briefs and mandamus petitions. In 2008, he accepted an invitation to join the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas as a central staff attorney in charge of mandamus and other original proceedings. He later served as the senior chambers attorney for Justice Kent C. Sullivan, and in that capacity, Jim handled numerous complex appeals arising from commercial lawsuits and oil-and-gas disputes. His areas of practice include general litigation, including complex commercial litigation, business litigation, oil and gas litigation, employment litigation, personal injury litigation, and appellate law.