james.thomeczek@tblawfirm.com

Jim has more than twenty years of experience representing public school districts and private schools.  He is a graduate of St. Louis University School of Law, from which he was graduated cum laude.  Jim was admitted into the Order of the Woolsack for his “high scholastic achievement in the study of Law.”

Prior to entering law school, Jim was a teacher in the Pattonville School District in St. Louis County.   There, he taught English at both the high school and middle school level.  Jim holds a Master of Arts degree in Secondary School Administration from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University), and a B.A. in English from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Jim is a nationally known authority on special education law.  He has made presentations at conferences, such as the National School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys and the National Institute on Legal Issues of Educating Children with Disabilities, as well as at the Franklin Pierce School of Law.  In Missouri, the Missouri School Boards Association selected Jim to pilot its instructional video program and the Missouri Council of Administrators of Special Education recognized him for his outstanding commitment and service to special education in the state.  He regularly presents at the annual meeting of the Missouri Council of School Attorneys.  Jim has taught or lectured at St. Louis University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis (where he as also served on a Ph.D. dissertation committee), the University of Missouri- Kansas City and Truman State University.

Jim is recognized by his peers as a leader.  He has served as the chair of the School Law Committee of the Bar Association of Metropolitan School District, the chair of the Missouri Council of School Attorneys, and a two-term chair of the Solo and Small Firm Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Jim has represented school districts in administrative and judicial proceedings.  He has argued before the Missouri Supreme Court and has filed memoranda with the United States Supreme Court.  He has argued numerous cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and has presented arguments in all three divisions of the Missouri Court of Appeals.