James J. Benjamin Jr. is a leader of Akin Gump’s white-collar defense and global investigations practice group. He represents banks, public companies, private investment funds, broker-dealers, and proprietary trading firms—as well as their key executives and traders—in investigations and enforcement proceedings arising under the federal securities and commodities laws.

Jim is described by Chambers USA as a “truly outstanding” lawyer who is “smart, hard-working, compassionate, and creative” and is “sought out by clients for his ‘strong and calming influence.’” According to Chambers, Jim “draws widespread acclaim” and is "just superb - a wonderful lawyer with terrific strategic judgment and a wonderful bedside manner.”

He represents companies and individuals in complex, high-pressure investigations and enforcement proceedings related to insider trading; anti-bribery and FCPA; improper accounting and disclosure; market manipulation, disruptive trading, and other violations; anti-money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act; and anticompetition.

Jim is a graduate of Dartmouth College, magna cum laude, and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as the Research and Projects Editor of the Virginia Law Review. After law school, he clerked for Judge J. Frederick Motz in the District of Maryland and Justices Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before joining Akin Gump in 2001, Jim served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, including as deputy chief appellate attorney and as a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.