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Hon. James A. Wynn, Jr.
Hon. James A. Wynn, Jr., Law ’79, was elected to the Marquette University Board of Trustees in 2013.
Wynn is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, having been appointed by President Obama in 2009 and confirmed by Senate acclamation in 2010. In the 20 years before his federal judicial career, he served as a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and briefly as a justice on the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
He began his legal career as a military lawyer in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, where he served for 30 years (four years active and 26 years reserve). For six of those years, he served as a military trial judge. His military assignments also included three commanding officer positions, including serving as the commanding officer of the military trial judges, and staff judge advocate for Readiness Command Six in Washington, D.C. In 2009, he retired at the rank of Navy captain.
Following his active-duty service, he practiced law as a litigator at Fitch, Butterfield & Wynn in Wilson and Greenville, North Carolina.
Among his many service positions, Wynn chairs the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights and sits by the appointment of Chief Justice Roberts on the Information Technology Committee for the U.S. Judicial Conference.
Previously, he was a director and chair of the Finance Committee on the American Bar Endowment board of directors. He has chaired the ABA Appellate Judges Conference and the ABA Judicial Division.
Wynn is a frequent lecturer and speaker at events and graduation exercises in the U.S. and has delivered lectures on judicial topics in several countries. He has also served as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. He has delivered the Hallows Lecture at Marquette University Law School, and in 2020, he delivered the New York University School of Law’s Madison Lecture.
Wynn holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; a juris doctor from the Marquette University Law School; and a master of laws degree in judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law.
He is a member of the Marquette University President’s Society.