James M. Kennedy has spent his entire career on one side of the courtroom. His practice is concentrated on complex investigations and litigation in federal and state court.
A fourth-generation Texan born in Dallas in 1972, James graduated from St. Thomas’ Episcopal School in Houston and earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. After two years in a banking management program he attended the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.
How he got here
After his first year of law school, James worked full time as a law clerk at the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, assisting with felony trial preparation and appellate briefing. He found the work educational and the role wrong for him: he knew he did not want to spend a career marking convictions on a scorecard.
The following year, in a criminal trial advocacy class taught by former state senator and trial lawyer Craig Washington, a guest speaker named Kent A. Schaffer lectured on how to cross-examine a government informant. Within a month James had taken a full-time clerkship with David R. Bires at the criminal defense boutique of Bires & Schaffer. He clerked there through his second and third years, joined the firm as an associate after licensure, and has practiced alongside Kent Schaffer ever since.
Practice
James defends individuals across the full range of state and federal prosecutions — from state felony trials to federal pre-charge investigations, money laundering, drug conspiracy, and white-collar cases. His practice also includes representation before the Parole Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the post-conviction work that follows a conviction: motions for new trial, appeals, habeas corpus, expunctions, and orders of non-disclosure.
Every person investigated for or accused of a crime deserves zealous representation.
Two decades of trial practice have taught him that most cases are decided by preparation that happens months before a jury is seated: reading the discovery twice, finding the witness the government did not interview, and knowing the record better than the prosecutor does.
Credentials
Bar admissions
- State Bar of Texas
- United States District Court, Southern District of Texas
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Education
Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University — J.D.
University of St. Thomas, Houston — B.A., Psychology
St. Thomas’ Episcopal School, Houston
Associations
- State Bar of Texas
- Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association
- Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
- National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers