James K. Lehman is the managing partner of the Firm and a member of the Executive Committee. He practices in the areas of corporate and securities litigation, white collar investigations, professional liability, and environmental litigation.

In the fall of 2004, Mr. Lehman returned to Nelson Mullins after serving as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Safety-Kleen Corp., where he was instrumental in helping the corporation emerge from Chapter 11 protection in what, at the time, was one of the larger and more complicated bankruptcies in U.S. corporate history. He also assisted with developing controls and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance issues as the Ethics Officer. As Safety-Kleen emerged from bankruptcy, Mr. Lehman was selected as the trustee for the Safety-Kleen Creditor Trust.

A member of the South Carolina Bar and the District of Columbia Bar, Mr. Lehman is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth and District of Columbia Circuits; the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the District of South Carolina.

Prior to first joining Nelson Mullins in 1995, Mr. Lehman worked in the Washington, D.C. and New York offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell. Following graduation from law school, he served as law clerk to Judge Robert F. Chapman of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 1990, Mr. Lehman earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif. During law school, he was as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the South Carolina Law Review and captain of the ABA Moot Court Team. He was a Carolina Legal Scholar and a member of the Order of the Barristers and the Order of the Wig and Robe. He earned a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Bob Jones University in 1987.

Active in our community, Mr. Lehman is the immediate past board chair of the United Way of the Midlands and is the current chair of the Midlands Housing Alliance. He also serves on the boards of Claflin University, the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce Good to Great Foundation, the City Center Partnership, and the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism. He is a past president and former board member of the South Carolina Philharmonic and a former member of the boards of directors of the Central Carolina Community Foundation and Hannah House, a shelter for women. He is a graduate of Leadership South Carolina and a Liberty Fellow.