District Judge Shares Knowledge with Prelaw Students

The Prelaw Society at Radford University hosted James P. Jones, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Virginia, last September.

“I’m so excited to be here,” Jones said. “My mother went to Radford, but she didn’t graduate. It was during the Depression and she was needed back on the farm. She always spoke of her fond memories at Radford University.”

Criminal Justice Assistant Professor and Prelaw Advisor Luke William Hunt served as a law clerk for Jones prior to working as a FBI special agent. The standing-room-only event had Jones discussing his experience as a judge in the Western District of Virginia, plea agreements and his experience on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) in Washington, D.C. The FISA Court is composed of 11 district judges and receives requests for surveillance relating to international terrorism and foreign intelligence activities.

Clerking for a federal judge gave Jones the inspiration and desire to become a federal judge someday, he said. “There’s no easy path to becoming a federal judge,” Jones said. “You have to be in the right place at the right time.”

Kelvin Gravely Jr., a senior from Martinsville, appreciated hearing the perspective of someone on the FISA Court. “With a secret court, especially in the news media, you hear lots of different angles,” Gravely said. “Hearing from someone on the court himself was really beneficial.”

Questions asked by the students covered the topics of recommendations for law school, types of work undertaken by Jones, ethnic and racial disparity in prisons, wiretapping under the Patriot Act and percentage of denied FISA applications.

Hunt believed that the students enjoyed hearing from a current FISA judge.