James focuses his practice on environmental and energy law. In addition, James draws on his 11 years of prior government service to advise clients on a variety of general regulatory and strategic matters.
Prior to joining the firm, James worked at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a few different capacities. Most recently he acted as senior assistant regional counsel, where he was responsible for environmental counseling and enforcement matters under various statutes, including CERCLA, CWA, RCRA, and CAA in both the federal administrative and judicial contexts. He handled complex judicial enforcement matters in the Marcellus Shale sector, oil spill response, accident prevention, and multimedia context. As the EPA Region 3 lead oil enforcement lawyer, James was responsible for the Federal Response Plan (FRP) and Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) counseling and enforcement, representing the EPA in seeking penalties, ensuring compliance, and advising on questions of federal jurisdiction. James acted as one of the Agency’s national experts on FRP and SPCC legal matters and handled a variety of oil enforcement cases, including the BP Curtis Bay FRP consent decree, which established a national corporate spill prevention compliance program across BP’s inland operations in the aftermath of the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He also served as special counsel for enforcement and permitting in the Air Protection Division and began his career at the EPA during law school as a paralegal specialist.
James earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude and with honors, from Franklin and Marshall College. James earned his Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University and he earned his law degree, with honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While attending law school, he was the notes editor for the Journal of Law and Technology, president of the Environmental Law Project, and a member of the Holderness Moot Court, Environmental Appellate Advocacy Team.