Dougherty & Dougherty

Jim Dougherty has been practicing family law and criminal law for more than thirty years. He has also been a legal educator throughout his career. Jim is Managing Partner for Dougherty & Dougherty, a Mediator in Civil & Family Law matters, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Formerly, Jim was Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Criminal & Civil Divisions of the office in Houston and Trial Attorney of the U.S. Dept. of Justice in Washington, D.C., and Auditor, Arthur Andersen & Co.

As a mediator, Jim has been a Panel Member of U.S. Southern District of Texas, Alternative Dispute Resolution Providers, U.S. Postal Service REDRESS Program, Attorney-Mediator Harris County Dispute Resolution Center, A.A. White, Association of Attorney-Mediators, and Association for Conflict Resolution.

Jim received his law degree from University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas, and a B.B.A. in Accounting & Finance at the University of Notre Dame. He is licensed in the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeal, 5th Circuit, U.S. Southern District of Texas Supreme Court. He has been an Officer & Board Member of: the Houston Bar Association, Federal Practice & Procedure Section (Chair); Administration of Justice Committee, Houston Lawyer Referral Service, and the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Jim is a member of: American Bar Association, Houston Bar Association, Harris County Criminal Lawyers’ Association, U.S.-Mexico Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution & Criminal Justice Act Panels, U.S. District Court for Southern District of Texas.

He has been involved in the community through the Houston International Dance Coalition (past-President, current Board member); St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Board of Stewards (current Board); Memorial Park Conservancy (current Board member); Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Camp Logan Civic Club; Asia Society; Houston World Affairs Council; Sierra Club; Center for the Healing of Racism (former Board member); Home & Community Service 1 Advisory Comm., Harris County MHMRA (former Chair); Amigos de las Americas (former local Board member); Crime Control Committee, Houston Chamber of Commerce; Crestwood-Glencove Civic Club (former President & Board memer); Notre Dame Alumni Assn. Houston (former Board member); Dodson Elementary PTO (former Vice-Pres. & Board member); Volunteer & Trainer regional Crisis Hotline Service; Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

Jim Dougherty was the Democratic Candidate for Texas House of Representatives, District 134 (2004), Democratic Candidate for Harris County District Attorney (2000), President & Board member, Greater Heights Democratic Club, Precinct Chair in Harris County, and is currently on the Board of the Harris County Democratic Lawyers Association.

He is married to Judy Dougherty, his wife (and law partner) of over 35 years. They have two grown children, Sean and Cara. Sean is an economist at the OECD in Paris (having graduated from Bellaire, Rice, MIT, and Penn). Cara is a population-environment specialist at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. (having graduated from Lamar, Columbia, and the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Policy).