James’ background includes a BA from University of Notre Dame, a MS degree from Boston University (thesis on film and James Joyce’s Ulysses), teaching high school English while attending Georgetown University Law Center (Night Division), and serving for 33 years as a Maine Assistant Attorney General. In 2008 he earned a MFA in poetry from the low-residency Bennington Writing Seminars. Many of his poems begin with the people and cases any lawyer encounters when practicing law.
Since his retirement in 2013 he has worked with Pine Tree Legal Assistance, representing low income Mainers. In 2019 he received one of five Maine Pro Bono Lawyer Service Awards awarded by the United States Legal Services Corporation.
In 2012, Moon Pie Press published his collection of law-related poems, The Common Law, and in 2019, his second book of poems, One Day in One Town. Also in 2019, the Maine Bar Journal published his legal essay:Tom Joad and the Repossessed Car.