Jim is a shareholder in the Jackson, Mississippi based Young Wells Williams P.A. law firm and is the Chair of its Business Opportunities Group. He also serves on the firm’s board of directors and as President of the firm.
Prior to rejoining the firm in May 2001, Jim served as Senior Vice President – General Counsel and Secretary of Tritel, Inc./SunCom, a wireless communications company affiliated with AT&T Wireless Services. In that position, he was responsible for all legal affairs of the company, which grew from a private start-up with a dozen employees to a publicly traded corporation with over 1,200 employees doing business over a six-state region. In addition to his legal responsibilities, Jim managed the governmental relations, real estate and regulatory functions of the company. As corporate Secretary, he coordinated the activities of the company’s board of directors and acted as primary legal advisor to the board on issues as widely varying as litigation to the company’s IPO and subsequent merger with TeleCorp PCS, Inc. Jim worked with investment banks and led legal teams assisting the company through corporate finance transactions raising capital in excess of $1.3 billion, including private equity offerings, the strategic equity investment of AT&T Wireless, senior secured credit facilities, a Rule 144A private offering of senior subordinated discount notes, the registration of such notes through an exchange offer and an initial public offering. He also negotiated significant contracts with various telecom vendors and related vendor financing.

Specialties: Business and corporate matters; Telcom; Commercial transactions; corporate finance including debt and equity offerings; mergers and acquisitions; antitrust, distribution and marketing/advertising issues; shareholder or partnership disputes; vendor/customer relationships; corporate and other business entity formations; securities issues; corporate governance; general business and succession planning; contract negotiations and preparation.