Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2024 
Jim earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn Law School, he received the Edwin R. Keedy Cup and served as Editor of the Comparative Labor Law Journal. After graduating, he clerked for the Honorable Daniel H. Huyett, 3rd, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Jim began practicing law in 1992 at Pelino & Lentz, P.C. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His practice focused on labor and employment litigation and complex commercial litigation, including matters involving regulated industries and financial services. He practiced at Pelino & Lentz until 2000 and was named a partner during his tenure. While there, Jim represented corporate clients in commercial disputes, employment litigation, collective bargaining negotiations, employment discrimination matters, and securities industry arbitrations. He has tried more than twenty cases to verdict or judgment and has served as lead counsel in a broad range of matters involving securities, ERISA, antitrust, and commercial litigation.
Jim is a member of the Board of IAG Global and is the Founder and a Board member of International Friends of Festival Verdi, based in New York City. He is also an active supporter of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and serves on the ILR School’s Advisory Council. In 2020, Jim was named Whistleblower Lawyer of the Year by Taxpayers Against Fraud, a national non-profit organization focused on advancing whistleblower interests.
Jim is a member of the National Association of Securities and Consumer Attorneys, the National Employment Lawyers Association, Taxpayers Against Fraud, the American Bar Association, and the California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. He resides in Chester, Connecticut, where he previously held elective office and remains active in community, political, and charitable organizations.
At Miller Shah LLP, Jim focuses his practice on financial services and whistleblower litigation, as well as ERISA, securities, corporate governance, and employment matters. He also represents clients in complex commercial litigation, including trade regulation disputes, patent and licensing matters, and other intellectual property litigation. His experience includes representing parties in unsuitable trading, churning, and related disputes in FINRA arbitrations and mediations, as well as proceedings before international tribunals.
Jim also serves as outside labor and corporate counsel for select clients of the firm and advises international clients based in Europe, India, Asia, and South America. His work includes representing manufacturers, technology and service companies, financial institutions, hedge funds, insurers, investment firms, and private equity firms in U.S. legal matters, complex litigation, dispute resolution proceedings, and the supervision of significant domestic and cross-border transactions.
