Bio

James Tucker focuses his practice on four areas: general litigation and appellate work; employment defense; voting rights and election law; and governmental relations, including legislative and policy work. With over 20 years of employment law litigation experience, he emphasizes preventive law and counseling and advice as ways to reduce the risk that employers face. Jim has litigated in federal and state courts in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, and his cases have resulted in published opinions in Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Jim served as judicial law clerk to Maurice M. Paul, Chief U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Florida.

Jim skillfully partners with human resources personnel to adopt practical and cost-effective solutions to challenging situations. He offers candid, real-world advice that allows employers to make informed decisions about issues they confront daily. Jim is committed to setting the standards for excellence in employment practices. He brings his dedication and experience to every client, offering the highest quality and value in all of his work. He is peer review rated by Martindale-Hubbell as AV Preeminent^{^®}.

Since 1999, Jim’s representation of governmental entities in Arizona has included general litigation work for Maricopa County; representing the Maricopa Community College District in the recent data breach investigation and administrative proceedings; providing counseling advice to the Maricopa County Elections Department of the County Recorder’s Office on federal voting laws; and representation of the Coconino Association for Vocations, Industry, and Technology in Coconino County in redistricting and in a voting rights proceeding.

Jim has a strong commitment to pro bono service, including work with the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund. He is a member of the 32-member National Advisory Committee to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Native American Voting Rights Coalition, and serves as Chair of the Indian Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona.

Jim served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate (JAG), U.S. Air Force Reserve. A combat veteran, his military distinctions include the Air Medal and the Aerial Achievement Medal for service in the U.S. Air Force during Operation Desert Storm. A prolific author and speaker, Jim teaches voting rights law at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.

EMPLOYMENT LAW EXPERIENCE
Jim works with employers in responding to charges of discrimination, including investigations, preparing position statements, and representation in agency and court proceedings, litigation, and appeals. He represents employers on matters under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the WARN Act, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), and other federal and state employment laws. He also helps employers protect their proprietary information and assets, through preparation and enforcement of non-competition agreements, non-solicitation agreements, confidentiality agreements, and executive agreements.

VOTING RIGHTS EXPERIENCE
Jim has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, where he taught courses on voting rights and elections law. He was a senior trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section. While at the Justice Department, he obtained from a federal judge the first takeover of a county’s election system because of systemic violations of the language assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. He also served as trial counsel in a case later decided by the United States Supreme Court. In 2006, he worked for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) to secure the 25-year reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act VRA. He has testified before Congress on four occasions.

Jim served as policy counsel for the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, and was co-counsel with the ACLU and Native American Rights Fund in Nick v. Bethel, Alaska, the first successful language-assistance case by Alaskan Natives under the Voting Rights Act. The author of nearly two dozen journal articles and book chapters, most on voting, he recently published The Battle over Bilingual Ballots: Language Minorities and Political Access under the Voting Rights Act (Ashgate 2009) and a book chapter in The Most Fundamental Right: Contrasting Perspectives on the Voting Rights Act (Indiana Univ. 2012).

BAR ADMISSIONS
Nevada
Arizona
Florida

EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania Law School, S.J.D., 2001
University of Pennsylvania Law School, LL.M., 1998
University of Oklahoma, M.P.A., 1995
University of Florida, J.D., 1994, cum laude; Outstanding Student Note and Outstanding Student Comment, Florida Law Review
Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University, B.A., 1988, magna cum laude; Outstanding Alumni Award

COURT ADMISSIONS
U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court of Florida
U.S. Supreme Court of Nevada
U.S. Supreme Court of Arizona

AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
Order of the Coif

Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent^{^®}

James Thomas Tucker

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