After a distinguished 18-year career serving on the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals, former Justice Jim Moseley's private practice is focused on guiding clients through complex state and federal appeals in Texas and across the country, and fulfilling his personal commitment to build a high-quality group of seasoned lawyers who will provide the same exceptional service long after he leaves the practice of law.
As one of the 13 justices on the Fifth District Court of Appeals, Jim’s jurisdiction covered the Dallas area, including Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. He authored more than 1,500 opinions in all areas of civil and criminal law and sat as a non-authoring justice in more than 3,000 additional cases. In 2003, Jim was commissioned to sit for a recused Texas Supreme Court justice and authored the Court’s plurality opinion (St. Joseph’s Hospital v. Wolff, 94 S.W.3d 514 (2003)).
Having served as a former appellate justice for over eighteen years, Jim has read more briefs and heard more oral arguments than almost any practicing appellate lawyer. He brings the insights from that experience to every case, formulating strategy and arguments, overseeing the research, and fine-tuning later drafts of the briefs. In many cases Jim stays in the background, guiding practice group members (or outside attorneys) and matching their expertise with the work to be done. This approach helps control costs while still maximizing the likelihood of success on appeal.
In more challenging cases involving unique or complex issues, however, Jim can take a more hands-on approach and is deeply involved in every phase of the appeal. In either situation, the result is high-quality, high-value legal representation that maximizes the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Jim and his team also provide litigation support to the firm’s trial lawyers, including guidance on preserving appealable errors, research on complex issues, drafting dispositive motions, preparing jury questions and crafting discovery requests focused on limiting the disputed issues at trial.
A licensed AAA arbitrator, Jim is in high demand to adjudicate a broad range of complex commercial disputes involving substantial dollar amounts. Jim’s strength is working through complex disputes, i.e. complex fact issues, contractual terms, causation theories, damage models, or procedural (arbitrability) issues.
Before serving on the Dallas Court of Appeals, Jim practiced law in Dallas and Odessa (Texas) for 14 years. He also served four years as Regional Director of the Federal Trade Commission during the Reagan Administration. There he was responsible for the FTC’s enforcement of federal antitrust and consumer laws in a five-state area. Jim is a former chair of the Antitrust & Business Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas and an elected member of the American Law Institute.