A native of Chicopee, Massachusetts and a graduate of Clark University and the University of Maine School of Law, Jim has been an impassioned fighter for the rights of Maine workers for over 25 years. In addition to state and federal courts in Maine, he is admitted to practice in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Jim is a member of the Lawyers' Coordinating Committee, the Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group and the Maine State Bar Association.  He serves as counsel for the Maine AFL-CIO and works with them on labor, public policy and workers' compensation issues. He also represents Local S6 of the International Association of Machinists and a number of other labor unions throughout the state. Jim represents union members before the administrative law judges of the U.S. Department of Labor in cases falling under the jurisdiction of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.  He also represents people injured under the Defense Base Act and works extensively before the Maine Workers' Compensation Board.  Jim served in Washington, D.C. from 1974 through 1981 as chief legislative counsel and administrative assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie and Senator George J. Mitchell.