Ohio , in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Ohio and for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Shortly after graduation from law school, Jim went to work for the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Social Security Administration. In this job, he was an attorney-advisor to Administrative Law Judges, helping Judges draft written decisions on disability cases and also doing legal research for Judges on other issues of law. After working there from January, 1976 until November, 1982, he left this job to enter private law practice. In private law practice since November, 1982, he has represented hundreds of claimants for Social Security disability benefits and for Supplemental Security Income benefits at hearings before Administrative Law Judges and on appeals to the Social Security Appeals Council and to the Federal courts. He has written over 400 briefs on Federal court appeals of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income cases in the United States District Courts and in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Among his published decisions in these courts are Carter v. Secretary, 834 F. 2d 97 (6th Cir. 1987) and Preston v. Secretary, 854 F. 2d 815 (6th Cir. 1988).; and Lancaster v. Commissioner, 228 F. 2d 563 (6th Cir. 2007). He has also litigated attorney fee issues in Social Security cases before the Sixth Circuit in two en banc proceedings there, Rodriguez v. Secretary, 865 F. 2d 739 (6th Cir. 1989) and Horenstein v. Secretary, 35 F. 3d 261 (6th Cir. 1994).

Jim is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Cincinnati Bar Association, and since 1994 a member of the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR). He has spoken at over 30 seminars on Social Security law sponsored by the Cincinnati Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association CLE, the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Tennessee Association of Legal Services, Kentucky Legal Services, and the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives. He has also written a chapter on disability law for the Social Security Practice Guide published by the Matthew Bender Company in 1984. He is very experienced in the area of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability law with a wide variety of experiences at all levels of appeals in these areas of law.