The Law Office of Tom James
Education
Cokato attorney Thomas B. James (less formally known as Tom James, or Thomas James) is a lawyer at the Law Office of Tom James in Cokato, Minnesota. He received his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from Southwestern University in Los Angeles, California. He received his undergraduate (Bachelor of Arts) degree from the University of California – Berkeley. He has been practicing law full-time since 1995.
Attorney Thomas James has also completed training in arbitration, mediation, TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language), TEYL (Teaching English to Young Learners), and TBE (Teaching Business English). He has developed and taught several continuing legal education courses for the Minnesota State Bar Association, Echion CLE, NALA, and Minnesota State University. You can read more about some of the courses he has developed and taught on the Courses page.
Bar Admissions
Although he is a Cokato attorney and Cokato is a very small rural town in greater Minnesota, attorney Thomas James is admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court. He is also admitted to practice in the Federal and 8th Circuit Courts of Appeals, Minnesota state and federal courts, and is authorized to represent clients nationally in the U.S. Trademark Office, the U.S. Copyright Office, and before the United States Trademark Trials and Appeals Board (TTAB) and the Copyright Claims Board (CCB).
Pro Bono Work
An attorney in private practice since 1995, Mr. James also teaches continuing legal education (CLE) courses for attorneys and other legal professionals. Over the course of his career, Tom James has volunteered many hours of pro bono work to nonprofit organizations. For example, he was a volunteer lawyer for Central Minnesota Legal Services for many years. Initially, he provided pro bono services to family law clients. While he no longer handles family law matters, Minnesota attorney Thomas James now performs pro bono services and gives advice to small businesses and nonprofit organizations through SCORE and the LegalCORPS programs. Most recently, he has performed trademark work for the National Parents Organization. He has served as a judge in high school mock trial competitions, and has previously served as a volunteer arbitrator for the Dispute Settlement Board in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Professional Memberships
Minnesota attorney Thomas James is a member of the American Bar Association. He is also a long-standing member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, the MSBA Solo and Small Practice section, and the Hennepin County Bar Association. Currently a member of the National Parents Advisory Council, Cokato lawyer Tom James has previously served on the Central Minnesota Legal Services Advisory Council and the NAMI Legislative Committee.
Member of the American Bar Association’s Copyright and Emerging Technology Committee.
Books by Cokato Attorney Thomas James
Books authored by Cokato, Minnesota attorney Tom James include IP Law for Non-IP Attorneys and E-Commerce Law: The Legal Compliance Handbook for Online Businesses. Although he no longer practices family law, Thomas James is also the author of Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren’t Supposed to Know (out of print) and The History of Custody Law. Some of these have been published under the name “Thomas B. James.” Others have been published under the name “Tom James.”) Find more information about these titles on the Books page.
Articles by Minnesota Lawyer Thomas James
Law review articles Cokato attorney Tom James has written include:
- Child Custody Presumptions: From Fault and Gender to Equal Time, Georgia State University Law Review, vol. 42 (Spring, 2026). Attorney Tom James traces the history of child custody presumptions in the law from ancient times to the present day. He concludes with an analysis of recently-enacted “equal shared parenting time” presumptions and makes recommendations for future legislation.
- Discussion Draft: Child Custody Presumptions: From Fault and Gender to Equal Time (2026) SSRN pre-publication draft
- “Overruling Rostker v. Goldberg: Toward an Equal Obligation to Register for Selective Service,” Nebraska Law Review (May, 2021). In this article, Minnesota attorney Tom James explains why male-only Selective Service registration requirements violate the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution, and why a 1980 decision holding otherwise should be overruled. This article was written and published just prior to the United States Supreme Court’s decision to deny review of a case challenging the constitutionality of the Selective Service Act. Although the Court declined review, it was acknowledged that the law, as written, may not be on sound constitutional footing. The Court suggested that Congress should proceed with measures it had begun to take to bring the Act into compliance with the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
- “Sales and Use Tax Nexus: The Way Forward for Legislation,” Mitchell-Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy & Practice, vol. 41, no. 1 (2020)In this article, Cokato lawyer Thomas James again critiques the United States Supreme Court’s adoption of volume thresholds for the purpose of Due Process and Commerce Clause analysis of state sales and use taxes on interstate sales. Mr. James suggests kinds of legislation that Congress could adopt to lighten the burden of differing state sales and use tax systems on small businesses
- “Assisted Reproduction: Reforming State Statutes After Obergefell v. Hodges and Pavan v. Smith,” University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender & Class, vol. 19 (2020). Although he no longer practices family law, Minnesota attorney Tom James has maintained an interest in family law reform. In this article, he discusses the impact of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on state family law statutes pertaining to paternity and parentage determinations. In particular, he addresses the changes that will need to be made to state statutes in order to accommodate judicial decisions requiring parents in same-sex couples to be treated the same as parents in opposite-sex couples.
- “Protecting Copyrights in Professional and Academic Writing,” LinkedIn.com (2020). Here, Mr. James explains the rights academic and professional authors have in their works and how to protect them after the works have been published.
- “Copyright Enforcement: Time to Abolish the Pre-Litigation Registration Requirement,” Illinois Law Review (Fall, 2019). A recent United States Supreme Court decision has interpreted the Copyright Act to mean that a copyright owner cannot file an infringement action until after the Copyright Office has issued a registration. Noting that the Copyright Office can sometimes take a year or more to issue a registration certificate, Cokato attorney Thomas James argues that this produces outcomes that are unfair to authors and other copyright owners. He suggests that Congress should abolish the pre-litigation registration requirement. The law, he contends, should be amended to provide that it is enough if the copyright owner has filed an application.
- “E-Commerce Sales Taxes: What Your Online Business Needs to Know,” AllBusiness.com (June 17, 2019)This article was written for business owners, and in particular, small business owners. It provided a guide to help small business owners assess their sales and use tax collection and remittance obligations concerning sales to residents of other states.
- “Use Tax Nexus: The Illusory Utility of Volume Thresholds,” Tax Notes – State (April 19, 2019) Cokato attorney Thomas James critiques the United States Supreme Court’s adoption of volume thresholds as an analytical tool in the evaluation of the validity of state sales and use taxes on interstate commerce under the Due Process and Commerce clauses of the United States Constitution.
- Thinking Clearly About Presumptive Joint Physical Custody, Minnesota Joint Physical Custody Presumption Study Group Report (January 14, 2009)
My Research Gate, Academia, and Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) pages.
Avvo Legal Guides:
- 10 Key Points to Cover in an Employment Contract (Avvo, 2021)
- 10 Essential Legal Steps in Starting a Business (Avvo, 2021)
Tom James in the News
- National Parents Organization announces Cokato, Minnesota attorney Tom James is co-recipient of the 2025 Ned Holstein Shared Parenting Research Award for his law review article on child custody presumptions, published in the Georgia State University Law Review in 2026.
- “Claiming Medical Leave Rights Retroactively,” a Washington Post article about Ellshoff v. Department of the Interior. In this case, attorney Thomas James succeeded in persuading the Merit Systems Protection Board that depression is an illness covered by the Family Medical Leave Act and that the client’s employer had violated the client’s rights under the Act.
- “Divorced Dad Wins Fight Over Bible Lessons.” In this case, attorney Thomas James secured a reversal on appeal of a family court order that enjoined his client from talking about the Bible in front of his children. Although not a fundamentalist himself, Tom James believes the First Amendment’s Free Exercise clause applies to everybody, even noncustodial fathers.
- Hansen v. Todnem, an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court seeking to vindicate a single father’s parental rights.
- “Relative Foster Care and Adoption.” Radio station WJON AM 1240 write-up of a course that attorney Tom James developed and hosted for Echion CLE.
- A write-up in Minnesota Parent.
- TTAB Order dismissing an opposition to a trademark registration application that attorney Thomas James filed on behalf of a client.
- Representing Relatives in Post-Permanency Proceedings, a 2022 CLE co-presented with Rhia Bornmann Spears; hosted by the Minnesota State Bar Association (MinnesotaCLE).
Legal News and Updates: a collection of news items about law and lawyers that I update irregularly. Who Tom James is not (Disambiguation).
The Law Blog of Thomas James
Cokato Copyright Attorney, www.thomasbjames.com, is the official law blog of Minnesota attorney Thomas B. James. Visit this page for news and commentary on the latest developments in copyright and trademark law.
Recent blog posts:
- Fair Use Decision in Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence
- Top Copyright Cases of 2024
- New Trademark Fees Coming
- The New Copyright Circumvention Rules
- Can We Talk Here? Trademark Speech Rights
- Copyright Infringement Damages
- AI Lawsuits Roundup
- What Is in the Public Domain
- New AI Copyright Guidance
- The CCB’s First 2 Determinations
- A Recent Entrance to Complexity
- Getty Images Litigation Update
- AI Legal Issues
- Does AI Infringe Copyright?
- Newly Public Domain Works 2023
- The Top Copyright Cases of 2022
- Court agrees to hear parody goods case (Jack Daniels’ v. VIP Products)
- MSCHF Testing the Limits of Free Speech
- The Philosophy of Copyright, a broader view of copyrights and copyright law
- Photographers’ Rights: Warhol Case Tests the Limits of Transformative Use – When does a modified work go from being an illegal derivative work to a legal “transformative” work?
- The Internet Archive Lawsuit – possibly the most important copyright infringement case for authors and publishers to follow
- “The” a Registered Trademark Now – It’s The Ohio State University to you
- Copyright Small Claims Court Opens – All about the new Copyright Claims Board
- AI Can Create But Is It Art? – What is the role of intentionality in copyright protection?
- For Whom the Za Tolls – The sad saga of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s battle to protect its trademark from a pizza parlor
- Newly Public Domain Works – Hemingway, Pooh, and more
- Digital Tokens and Trademarks – The Nike and “JRR Token” cases
- NFTs and Copyright – What are you really getting when you buy a non-fungible token?
- Compulsory E-Book Licensing – Copyright piracy as the state level?
- Dune It Wrong – The “Dune” NFT
- The Trademark Modernization Act – what is says and what it portends
- The Top Copyright Cases of 2021 – in my opinion, of course.
Other blog posts:
- The Ubiquitous Thomas James, Medium
- This Isn’t ABC Gum; It’s AI, Medium
- Scraping Bias, Medium
- Supreme Court Ethics and the Separation of Powers, Medium
- 7 Big US Supreme Court Decisions Coming Soon, Medium
- Is ChatGPT Really HAL from 2001? Medium
- “Woke” Is Not a Race, Sex, or Sexual Orientation Category, Medium
- Words to Retire in 2023, Medium
- Job Search Scam Red Flags, Medium
- Dobbs: What Happened and What It Means, Medium
- Trauma-Informed Law Practices, Medium
- Free Speech, Medium
- The Fixation Requirement, Medium.
Awards and Recognition for Cokato Attorney Tom James
Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura awarded a Certificate of Commendation for Contribution to the Administration of Justice to Cokato attorney Thomas B. James in recognition of his pro bono work for Central Minnesota Legal Services. Before then, Tom James was a recipient of the Hennepin County District Court Judges Outstanding Service Award. As a law student, he received Top Student awards in constitutional law and other subjects. Attorney Tom James is also a past recipient of the American Jurisprudence Legal Scholarship Award. Most recently, Minnesota attorney Thomas James received the 2025 Ned Holstein Shared Parenting Research Award sponsored by the National Parents Organization.
The Law Office of Tom James is located at 440 North Broadway Avenue in Cokato, Minnesota (USA).
Thomas James is the only attorney at the Law Office of Tom James. He is a sole practitioner.
Not in the courts of every state, but yes, he can represent clients from any state in US Trademark Office (part of the USPTO), US Trademark Trials and Appeals Board (TTAB), US Copyright Office (USCO), and Copyright Claims Board (CCB) proceedings. To represent a client in U.S. Trademark Office, TTAB, USCO, and CCB proceedings, an attorney must be an active member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any U.S. state, commonwealth, or territory, or the District of Columbia. Thomas James is an active member in good standing of the bar of the Minnesota Supreme Court, so he can represent (and has represented) clients from all over the country and the world in these kinds of proceedings.
In addition to Minnesota courts, Thomas James is also admitted to the bar of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. An attorney admitted to the bars of these courts can file a brief and represent a party in them even if not licensed in the specific state in which the client resides. This means, for example, that although he is not licensed to represent clients in a Nevada or Wyoming state court, he can represent them in U.S. Trademark Office, TTAB, USCO, and CCB proceedings, and in appeals to the United States Supreme Court.
No, Thomas James has never been suspended or disbarred. Mr. James’s disclosure about this, which he has published to attorney directories as well, is:
An individual I do not know and who does not know me has published a statement on the Internet that I have been suspended twice. I have never been suspended, let alone twice. This individual’s statement is false, malicious, and defamatory. The truth is that in 2008, I was reprimanded for inadequate representation of a client in 2005. I was unaware in 2005 that I was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), triggered by exposure to parents who killed or wished their children dead. PTSD is an insidious condition, but as veterans can attest, it is not a permanent disability. I completed treatment for it successfully. In addition, I voluntarily transitioned from family law to business and IP law. There have been no further problems or recurrences.
Yes. I presented “Recent Developments in AI Law,” “Establishing Parentage in Assisted Reproduction Cases,” and “Corporate and Commercial Law” at the Annual NALA Conference in 2025. Other continuing legal education programs Mr. James has presented also include:
Protecting Trademarks and Trade Names (Twin Cities Startup Week)
IP Law for Non-IP Attorneys
The New Copyright Small Claims Court
Registering Copyrights in Music and Music Albums
Child Sex Abuse Claims: Statutes of Limitations and Revival Laws
Elimination of Bias: Helping Male Survivors of Childhood Sex Crimes
The Gender Paradigm in Family Court
To learn more about these and other courses I have developed and presented, visit the Courses page.
Since 1995. For five years prior to that, I was a court deputy (clerk) for Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The Law Office of Thomas James is devoted exclusively to copyright, trademark, business law, and appeals. Areas of expertise include trademark registration, copyright registration, small business and nonprofit organization formation, applications for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and appeals. In addition, I devote a substantial portion of my time to legal research and writing.
Costs can vary widely. In addition to my fee, they include such things as trademark and copyright application fees, court filing fees, and the like. My fee depends on the amount of time expended on the case. That is affected by the nature and complexity of the matter, the strength of the claim, the existence or absence of opposition, the likelihood of opposition, the nature of the representation — full representation vs. unbundled services such as legal research, trademark search, drafting a response to an office action, pro-se assistance, etc. — among other things.
I charge a competitive hourly rate. For simple, routine matters, I charge a flat fee. I do not offer contingent fee plans.
Not at this time. This page will be updated if the situation changes.
Get in touch!
Use this form to contact me. Submitting your information through this web form does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Information submitted through this web form is not confidential, not subject to attorney-client privilege, and will not preclude this law firm from representing a different client in the same legal matter. I do not represent you until you meet with me and sign a fee agreement. Do not send any confidential information until we meet.