In private practice, Jim represents publicly- and privately-held corporations and other entities in a wide variety of general corporate law and governance matters, securities offerings and other capital markets transactions. Jim has advised buyers or sellers in more than 250 mergers or acquisitions, including many valued at more than one billion dollars. In the past three years, Jim has served as Maryland corporate counsel to Capital Automotive, Arden Realty, Town and Country Trust, Bedford Properties, MeriStar Hospitality, Prentiss Properties, Pan Pacific, Reckson and, most recently, Equity Office Properties, Innkeepers USA Trust and Eagle Hospitality in their mergers, as well as to General Growth Properties, 3M and Huntington Bancshares in acquisitions by them. He has also represented parties in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other transactions. In addition, Jim advises open- and closed-end investment companies and their directors on matters of Maryland law. Jim regularly serves as independent counsel to the boards of directors and board committees of major U.S. corporations and as an expert witness in connection with major transactions, stockholder litigation, conflicts of interest and corporate governance issues. Jim also advises foreign governments on revision of their corporate and securities laws.

Jim is Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell and Northwestern Law Schools, where he has taught courses in securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He has also taught classes in corporation law at various law schools in the United States and the Republic of South Africa and at the Institute of Law in Beijing. During the Fall, 2003, Jim was Commerzbank Visiting Professor of Law at Bucerius Law School, in Hamburg, Germany, and taught there again in Fall 2005 and 2007 and Spring 2008 and 2009.

Jim was a member of the Committee on Corporate Laws of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association from 1984 to 1990 and from 1996 to 2002.  He is currently a liaison to the Committee. For many years, Jim has been actively involved in the revision of the Model Business Corporation Act, the Maryland General Corporation Law and the Maryland REIT Law.  Jim has also been a drafter of the Corporate Director's Guidebook (3d, 4th and 5th eds.) and the Fund Director's Guidebook (all editions).