JIM GODDERZ

James Godderz has more than twenty years experience as a business counselor and senior manager. In 2002, Jim designed a practice that is devoted to representing and counseling a broad spectrum of companies to achieve their strategic business objectives in a timely and cost-effective manner. Representative engagements range from the formation of technology service companies to closing complex international equity and product sale transactions for Fortune 50 companies. 

With more than 17 years’ experience as in-house counsel, Jim is acutely aware of the business lawyer’s role in facilitating strategic objectives and adding value to the company’s operations. Specific expertise in complex corporate, commercial and intellectual property transactions, labor and employment, and dispute resolution, allows Jim to provide comprehensive and pragmatic advice that ultimately reduces the client’s total legal and operating costs. His unsurpassed efficiency, responsiveness, and attention to specific client requests make Jim an ideal “partner” whom clients seek for their continuing success. 

Jim’s career history includes more than a dozen years as division counsel and senior management team member with four publicly traded companies; most recently for a $2 billion digital communications division of Motorola. Prior responsibilities include serving as chief labor and employment attorney for Occidental Chemical Corporation’s global operations. Jim’s in-house experience allows him to provide the “Best Practices” of Fortune 100 companies on a scalable basis specifically tailored to the client’s needs.

In addition to the responsibilities of his own practice, Jim maintains an active schedule of professional and community activities. He has served as chair for several national committees of professional organizations, as an advisory board member of two legal publications, as instructor for a law school course, as a volunteer teaching in urban public schools, and as a court appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children. Jim enjoys providing pro bono legal services, coaching youth basketball and lacrosse, and frequently lecturing on a variety of legal and business topics. 

Jim holds a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Computer Science from Rutgers College and a J.D. from Widener University School of Law where he was Articles Editor and Administrative Board Member of the Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honor Society.