James J. Thomas II

Atlanta Tel:   404-869-5248 Fax:  404-869-7610 jthomas@ichterthomas.com Download vCard

EXPERIENCE

After graduation from law school in 1976, Mr. Thomas declined employment offers from some of the most prestigious law firms in the country.  He opted instead to join nine other lawyers in starting a new firm in Atlanta, Georgia, named Long & Aldridge, which grew rapidly after its formation and now is named McKenna Long & Aldridge which has approximately 500 lawyers in 11 cities in the United States and Europe and is one of the premier business law firms in the country.

Mr. Thomas concentrated in commercial litigation and became the Head of the Firm’s Litigation Department. He also served as the Managing Partner of the Firm for two years and as Chairman of the Firm’s Ethics and Practice Standards Committee for more than 20 years.

Mr. Thomas spent his first 18 years at the firm as a litigator, concentrating in complex business litigation as well as analysis, evaluation, and resolution of existing and potential litigation related to financial restructuring of distressed businesses. In 1991, Mr. Thomas began representing Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Evander Holyfield, and Mr. Thomas’s sports law practice began to grow as detailed below. After 10 years concentrating primarily in sports law and business ventures, in 2004 Mr. Thomas returned full time to litigation as the Firm’s senior intellectual property litigator with success in several major cases.

Since October of 2009, Mr. Thomas has been a partner in the law firm of Ichter Thomas, LLC, practicing in the area of complex business litigation.

To see more of the professional experience of James Thomas II, click HERE.

EDUCATION

Other Education:

Mr. Thomas began working as a dishwasher in a diner at age ten and worked as a bus boy, cashier, city laborer, playground instructor, karate instructor, bouncer in a night club, and dormitory manager from age ten through law school graduation and financed most of his law school education by earning scholarships and working several jobs simultaneously including his final year when he also served as Editor-in-Chief of the William and Mary Law Review.

INVOLVEMENT

• Member, State Bar of Georgia, admitted November 1976
• Admitted to practice in:
  • Georgia Court of Appeals
  • Georgia Supreme Court
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit Court

PUBLICATIONS

• Author: The Holyfield Way:  What I Learned About Courage, Perseverance, and the Bizarre World of Boxing, published by Sports Publishing, Inc.