In 1994, less than 12 months out of law school, James began his career with a passion for helping people get out of debt and opened his first consumer bankruptcy firm in St. Louis, MO.  James’ passion for working in the world of bankruptcy first came when he himself had to file for bankruptcy during law school after being laid off as an assembly worker with General Motors. The process was difficult, but something positive did come out of it: it clarified what he wanted to do.  James firmly believes that in law school, you take classes in the law, but you aren’t taught about what kind of work is going to make you happy or how to build a sustainable law business to give you the lifestyle you want. James is extremely grateful to have learned his passion early and followed his dream to build a multi-million-dollar consumer bankruptcy firm, now several times over.

By the end of 1996, James’ firm broke the $1 Million mark in revenue and he was approached to open a 2^nd office in Detroit, MI.  He took the same systems, policies and procedures that skyrocketed the St. Louis office and simply duplicated them in Detroit.  By 1998, the St. Louis and Detroit offices were the top filing bankruptcy firms in their respective districts with both offices earning well over 7 figure incomes.  In 1998, James once again duplicated his systems and opened a 3^rd location in Kansas City, MO.  By 2001, the Kansas City location surpassed the $1 Million mark itself again proving that regardless of location, amount of competition and plenty of people saying it can’t be done, James blocked all of that out and did it anyway.