Legal Services Of Eastern Missouri Hires New Managing Attorney

Tracy James has joined Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) as the new managing attorney for the Community Economic Development Program (CED).

James will be responsible for managing the CED program - an LSEM initiative launched in 2011 that provides business-oriented legal advice to small non-profit organizations and businesses operated by low-income entrepreneurs in underserved communities and women-owned businesses (M/MBEs) in the construction trades.

James comes to LSEM with more than 18 years of legal experience including most recently running her own law firm. In that capacity, her work included business/transactional law where she helped both private and non-profit clients with the legal work to start their own businesses.

Prior to that, she worked in a number of different positions including associate general counsel at Saint Louis University, where she managed the transactional matters, IP and real estate for the university. As an associate at McMahon Berger, she worked with business clients to draft employment policies, conduct training, litigate matters and to defend companies against discrimination and labor claims. In addition, she worked as assistant attorney general for the Nebraska Attorney General.

James was an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University and also served as an adjunct professor at Maryville University and interim trial/clinical program coordinator for Washington University’s School of Law.

James earned her JD from the University of Nebraska in 1997 and a BA from Rice in 1990.

Prior to attending law school, she taught high school and was a youth director. James lives in Webster Groves, Missouri.

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) has provided high quality legal assistance in civil cases to the low-income community for more than 50 years. In 2015, LSEM helped more than 14,000 people (including clients and their household members) in 21 counties of eastern Missouri. LSEM is a registered 501(c)(3) organization that relies upon financial support from individuals, corporations and foundations in our community. If you would like to support our mission, please visit www.lsem.org and click on "donate now."