Resumé

The Honorable James J. Brown, author of Will The Laughter Stop? BABYBOOMERCHRONICLES, presided over administrative law hearings from June of 1995 to October 3, 2008, when he retired from the Federal Bench. For many years, Brown served as Trial Attorney and later as Deputy Chief of the Judgment Enforcement Unit of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Division. He also litigated in the Asset Forfeiture Office of the Criminal Division, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ, where he was recognized as a specialist in tracing and collecting assets and enforcing judgments.

Judge Brown is the recipient of several distinguished service and performance awards for his services on the bench and to DOJ and to other federal agencies. After Judge Brown retired, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, formerly the North Carolina Trial Academy, presented Judge Brown with a Distinguished Service Award on November 21, 2008. Judge Brown also spent many years in private practice with Saul, Ewing, Weinberg & Green of Baltimore, Maryland, and with Levy, Winer P.C. of Greenfield, Massachusetts. He received his J.D. from Boston College Law School (1971) and his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin (1968).

A best-selling author/editor and frequent contributor of articles and reviews to leading law reviews, Brown has gained national recognition as an expert on the subjects of enforcing judgments, tracing assets, federal forfeiture, and administrative law; he has lectured on these topics throughout the United States. Additionally, Brown has extensive experience in both trying cases and sitting on the bench in dealing with scientific, technical, medical, psychiatric, and psychological experts, including issues dealing with their depositions, examinations, and cross-examinations in trial. He also has developed extensive experience on ruling, analyzing, and deciding these issues in presiding over the trial and administrative hearing process.

Based on Judge Brown's extensive judicial experience and professional qualifications, the Chief Judge in Washington, DC, chose Judge Brown to serve from November 7, 2005 until March 3, 2006, as an Administrative Review Judge to review, evaluate and critique other Judges procedures, hearings and trials. Hon. Brown also has experience and training in using televised video hearings from remote court sites and handling electronic folders and electronic courtroom documents. Brown is a Honorary Member of the California Association of Judgment Professionals. His professional achievements have earned him a place in the Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in America, Strathmore's Who's Who, and Madison's Who's Who. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the ABA National Conference of Administrative Law Judges, the North Carolina Writer's Network, and the Christian Legal Society of Washington, DC. In 2006, Judge Brown was honored to be selected as a member of the prestigious The Barrister, Braxton Craven Inn of Court at Duke University School of Law, a professional organization which serves the bench and bar of North Carolina. His hobbies include golf, skiing and writing poetry, novels and screen plays. Judge Brown is a Knight in the Knights of Columbus at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Raleigh, NC.

Bar Admissions

Member of the Maryland Bar and the Court of Appeals of Maryland since 1985 (Active status)

Member of the Massachusetts Bar and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court since 1971 (Inactive status)

Member, U.S. Supreme Court Bar (1973)

Member, U.S. Claims Court (1979)

Member, U.S. Courts of Appeal

Fourth Circuit (1979)

Tenth Circuit (1982)

Fifth Circuit (1983)

Member, U.S. District Courts

Maryland (Trial Bar) (1985)

District of Columbia (Trial Bar) (1986)

Vermont (1974)

Massachusetts (1972)

Awards From A Distinguished Legal Career

• Lifetime Service Award from the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (formerly the North Carolina Trial Academy) Disability Advocacy Section on November 21, 2008, "For Providing Extraordinary Service for 13 years as an Administrative Law Judge in Raleigh and for his reputation of fairness and honesty in dealing with Social Security Claimants and their cases during his tenure, and for being a champion of good advocacy by and a mentor to attorneys and representatives who appeared before him."
• Letter of Commendation from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah, in September, 1996, for assistance to the office and participation in the investigation and grand jury proceedings from 1992 to 1995 which lead to the prosecution in U.S. v. Lloyd Rubin, et al., for criminal mail fraud advance fee schemes and RICO violations by the defendants.
• Award for Distinguished Service to the U.S. Marshals Service in the area of Real Estate and Business Seizure in the Asset Forfeiture Program while a Senior Attorney at the Asset Forfeiture Office of the U. S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC, from 1990 to 1995.
• Distinguished Service Award — U.S. Department of Justice, 1985, for nine years of distinguished service at the Judgment Enforcement Unit, including contributions as a litigator and manager in the Judgment Enforcement Unit.
• Special Achievement Award — U. S. Attorney General, 1983, at the Judgment Enforcement Unit, based upon significant achievements in several large dollar amount, complex litigation cases during 1980-1983.
• Civil Division Performance Award — Quality Within Grade Salary Increase at the Judgment Enforcement Unit, by the U.S. Attorney General, December 1982, based on continuous outstanding service to the Department since 1976.
• Letter of Commendation from the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Interior, for the handling of the Government defense in the fourteen day trial in Raymond Bobb v. Cecil Andrus, 430 F. Supp. 522 (D.D.C. 1977), an American Indian Civil Rights employment discrimination case before U.S. District Court Judge Barrington Parker, Jr.