James Sheets

James Sheets (J.D., Attorney at Law) is an experienced professional with over twenty years of experience working at various levels in business, higher education, and legal studies. As an attorney and educator, he has worked as an ex-pat teaching business systems, international law, business law, and legal studies at several US and foreign universities. His recent research sorties have included data privacy, comparative legal systems, and international law.

He taught business management for several years at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, as well as law, at universities across the globe, including Boston University, the American University of Bulgaria, the American University of Bosnia, Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Jinan University in China.

Sheets has maintained a continued interest in international law and legal scholarship. His forthcoming study examines the development of civil society within an international context. He has also published an article under trade cover on international legal education, “Observations on the Chinese Legal Profession.” His Ph.D. examined the development of the social sciences within the context of civil society and was favorably reviewed by a major publishing house and is now in final draft.

Sheets received his Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Rochester in New York. He received his law degree at the University of Iowa. He was awarded a Carnegie Fellowship at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a post-doctoral scholar.

He considers learning a life process and sees himself as a lifelong learner who excels in cross-generational and cross-cultural environments. His work in Bosnia furthered cooperation between Bosnians and Serbs while his teaching in China examined business collaboration between the US and China.

At the local level, Sheets has assisted immigrants navigating the legal system. He has worked with nonprofits and underserved populations with limited access to the judicial system, helping on residential, probate, immigration, and community legal matters in the Des Moines area. He is a committed jogger, enjoys playing classical guitar, a member of the Greenwood Neighborhood Association, and is an active supporter of the YMCA.

He began his career teaching at the secondary level in Minnesota and Wisconsin and possesses various licenses in education along with bar admissions before state and federal courts in several states.