Page 8 - 2022 OAD First Monday Journal

2022 MILTON S. GOULD AWARD FOR

OUTSTANDING ORAL ADVOCACY

JAMES J. BENJAMIN, JR.

Jim Benjamin is a leader of Akin Gump’s white collar defense and global investigations practice group.
For more than 20 years, he has represented banks, public companies, private investment funds, broker-
dealers and proprietary trading firms—as well as their key executives and traders—in investigations and
enforcement proceedings arising under the federal securities and commodities laws. He has conducted
numerous jury trials, and has briefed and argued many cases before federal and state appellate courts.

Jim is described by Chambers USA as a “truly outstanding” lawyer who is “smart, hard-working,
compassionate, and creative” and is “sought out by clients for his ‘strong and calming influence.’”
According to Chambers, Jim “draws widespread acclaim” and is “just superb - a wonderful lawyer with
terrific strategic judgment and a wonderful bedside manner.”

Before joining Akin Gump, Jim served for more than five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in
the Southern District of New York. During his tenure there, he served as deputy chief appellate attorney
and as a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.

In 1987, Jim graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Phi Beta
Kappa and received the Colby Government Prize. In 1990, he graduated second in his class from the
University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Virginia Law Review. After law
school, Jim clerked for Judge J. Frederick Motz in the District of Maryland and Justices Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
and John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Over the years, Jim has served as a director of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers and the City
Bar Fund, and as a member of the Board of Advocates of Human Rights First. He is a former chair of
the New York City Bar Association’s Task Force on National Security and the Rule of Law. For the last 14
years, Jim has served as the co-chair of the Practising Law Institute’s annual CLE program on white collar
enforcement. He frequently speaks and writes on topics of white collar and regulatory enforcement.

4