James E. Graves Jr.

James Earl Graves Jr. (born November 19, 1953) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The son of a Baptist minister, Graves was born and raised in Clinton, Mississippi. He attended Sumner High School in Clinton and graduated as valedictorian with the highest grade point average and ACT score in his class. Graves then attended Millsaps College and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. After working at the Mississippi Department of Public Welfare for almost two years, he enrolled at Syracuse University College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1980. He also earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1981. He is a practicing Seventh-day Adventist. Graves began his legal career as a staff attorney at Central Mississippi Legal Services in 1980. He then worked in the private practice of law for three years, before returning to public service work. Graves served as legal counsel for both the health law division and the human services division of the Mississippi Attorney General's Office. He also worked as a special assistant attorney general for the State of Mississippi and served as the director of the division of child support enforcement in the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Graves has served as a Teaching Team Member of the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School since 1998. He has also held the position of adjunct professor at Millsaps College, Tougaloo College, and Jackson State University. Graves has taught courses in media law, civil rights law, and sociology of law and was jurist-in-residence at Syracuse University School of Law, through 2021. Graves has also coached high school, college, and law school mock trial teams, including the Jackson Murrah High School mock trial team that won the 2001 state championship. In 1991, Governor Ray Mabus appointed Graves as a circuit court judge of Hinds County.