Frank James is a shareholder in the Birmingham office and a 30-plus year practitioner of employment law. Local, regional and national clients turn to him for advice on all types of employment policies, contracts, handbooks and management guides. He counsels on issues related to numerous labor and employment laws, such as Title VII, the FLSA, the FMLA, the ADA and others. He conducts investigations into charges of harassment, and defends clients in federal court as well as in arbitration.
Mr. James frequently acts as a mediator and arbitrator. Early in his legal career, he served for six years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
Mr. James has rendered extensive volunteer service to charitable and church organizations, and is a retired Colonel of the Army of the United States. He was profiled in Baker Donelson's Fall 2010 Diversity Matters newsletter, found here.
- Recipient of the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Alabama School of Law, 2011
- Listed in Alabama Super Lawyers since 2008 (Employment & Labor)
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in Labor and Employment Law since 2006
- AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
- Member – American Arbitration Association National Roster of Neutrals
- Member – Panel of Neutrals, United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama
- Charter Member – Alabama Association of Attorney-Mediators
- Member – American, Alabama and Birmingham (Secretary-Treasurer 1996) Bar Associations
- Current Trustee and Past Chairman of the Board of Directors – YMCA of Metro Birmingham
- Member – Board of Directors, Board of Pensions, Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Past Director – Kiwanis Club of Birmingham
- Member – Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way
- Past Member – Board of Directors, United Way of Central Alabama
- Past President – The University of Alabama Law School Foundation Board of Directors
- Former Appointed Member – Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, Northern District of Alabama
- Elected Moderator – Synod of Living Waters (1993 – 94)
- Elected Moderator – Presbytery of Birmingham (1986)
- Moderator – Committee on Preparation for Ministry, the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley (2004 – 2008)
- Past Trustee – The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley
- Past Trustee – Farrah Law Society
- Past Director – Mountain Retreat Association (Montreat)
- Past Director – Columbia Theological Seminary
- Colonel – Army of the United States (Retired)
- Professor of Law and Assistant Dean – University of Alabama School of Law (1986 – 1990)
- Assistant U.S. Attorney – Northern District of Alabama (1980 – 1986)
- Law Clerk – Chief U.S. District Judge Virgil Pittman, Southern District Of Alabama (1978 – 1980)
- Alabama, 1978
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits
- U.S. District Courts, Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama
- University of Alabama, J.D., 1978
- Campbell College, B.S., 1973