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M. James Jenkins

attorney@mjamesjenkinspa.com
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Phone: 850-434-9304
Fax: 850-434-5558

1211 West Garden St.
Pensacola, Florida 32501

Jim Jenkins received his bachelors degree at University of California in San Diego and his law degree, with honors, from Florida State University College of Law. Upon graduation he accepted an appointment as an Assistant State Attorney or prosecutor in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida where he worked through 1988. In late 1988 he became an Assistant Public Defender in Pensacola, Florida. After his appointment as an Assistant State Public Defender he became one of only three Assistant Federal Public Defenders for the Northern District of Florida. He has been in private practice in the panhandle of Florida for 15 years.

Jim is a past president of the Northwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He also belongs to the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers. Jim has taught at seminars and has published articles dealing with the criminal law. He is also a 2003 graduate of famed trial lawyer Gerry Spence not for profit Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming. The Trial Lawyer's College is an extremely intensive, life changing program for experienced trial lawyers lasting more than three weeks. Jim continues to be very active with the Trial Lawyers College.

Although Jim has been practicing trial work and criminal law for more than 20 years, he believes that one cannot be a truly accomplished trial lawyer without developing yourself as a person. Jim feels that you have to understand who you are before you can understand judges, people on juries, prosecutors, witnesses and clients. Jim also employs a significant amount of re-enactment, or psychodrama, in his work with clients to fully develop the story of his clients' cases.

Education

Florida State University College of Law, 1985
Graduated with Honors

University of California, San Diego, 1981
Graduated with Provost Honors

St. Petersburg Junior College, St. Petersburg FL, 1977
Graduated with Honors

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

All Florida State Courts
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
United States Supreme Court

Professional & Bar Association Memberships

Trial Lawyer College Alumnus

Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys

Association of Trial Lawyers of America

Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (AFTL)

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)

Escambia County Bar Association

First Amendment Lawyers Association

Million Dollar Advocates Forum

Activities and Associations

Graduate of The Trial Lawyers College, Dubois, Wyoming Graduate of the National Criminal Defense Lawyers College, Macon Ga. Instructor, Georgetown University Trial Advocacy Program, Washington DC Past President of the Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Northwest Florida Chapter 

Articles Published

"The State of Our Trash in Florida: The Use of Evidence Found in Residential Garbage to Establish Probable Cause to Search a Citizen's Home" published in The Florida Bar Journal, January 2008

"Defending a Lawyer in Federal Court" published in The Florida Defender, the quarterly magazine of The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Fall 2005

"Defending a Lawyer in Federal Court" published in the Warrior Magazine, Journal of the Trial Lawyers Magazine, Winter 2006

"Trash Pulls and the 4th Amendment in Florida," published in The Florida Defender, the quarterly magazine of The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Winter 2007