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The Many Lives of James E. Heavey An Interview with Barton’s Favorite Operations Partner
So as I understand it, before you became a lawyer, your first career was in law enforcement. How did you get into that line of work? I come from an extensive law enforcement family consisting of federal Special Agents and New York City police officers. My dad was the Special Agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service New York Office. My uncles and aunts were all agents and detectives. Then my older sister, who was a role model to us little ones, became a Special Agent. We were always surrounded by very brave, principled, established role models that any kid would look up to and want to emulate. In that environment, we were required to move every few years of my life. I learned a lot about how to adapt to new environments. Competitive sports were a big way in which my sisters and I assimilated into new communities all around the country—it helped make up for our funny New York accents. I ended up playing Division I lacrosse at Duke University. Playing sports provided a foundation for collective success and relying on others. I think my athletic experience definitely contributed to my continued desire to be part of a team and compete in life, whether it be on the street in law enforcement or in the courtroom.
BARTON SPOTLIGHT
What kind of work did you do in law enforcement? I worked as a detective on a New York State Police Task Force and as a Special Agent on a federal strike force. In these roles, I worked undercover investigating narcotics and money laundering. When I was undercover (back when I had long hair and a beard), I primarily bought drugs or investigated the smuggling of drugs. I happened to be very effective at purchasing drugs undercover in scenarios where they hadn’t found success sending other agents. I think a lot of it goes back to my general competitive nature and learning to quickly adapt to new situations. Before 9/11, I worked exclusively in narcotics and money laundering. After 9/11, the efforts and resources dedicated to narcotics were redirected to the immediate commercial aviation security concerns. The majority of agents in narcotics were reassigned to airplanes. I ended up working as an Air Marshal for the Department of Homeland Security on a counterterrorism team out of the New York area providing security on domestic and international flights.
So how did you end up in law school then? Being an Air Marshal was actually the most boring job I’ve ever had because we really didn’t do much enforcementwise. I was basically stuck on an airplane for 14 months, so I started
James and his dog, Piper, return from a hike in the town of Westcliffe, Colorado, where he serves as the Municipal Judge.
buying a ton of LSAT study books and reading the material as a mental exercise to pass the time. I studied those books for months and eventually one of my partners said, “If you don’t take that test, I’m going to kill you.” So I took the LSAT and did surprisingly well. Then it was like, Well I guess I have to go to law school now. My exposure to the criminal justice system also helped push me towards law school. It became clear to me that the people that had the most influence in the justice system were the attorneys and judges. I realized that even when I was the person putting people in handcuffs, I was playing a secondary role once we got to the courtroom. To some degree, I looked at that as another challenge. So I left federal service and law enforcement to complete law school in my late 30s and work full time. I saw it as an opportunity to build on my body of knowledge and develop a more refined understanding of the law. While that was the end of my law enforcement career, it certainly wasn’t the end of my career in law.