Founding Partner
Jim is a seasoned litigator who specializes in civil rights cases. Before starting KW Law, he worked for eight years at a large international law firm, where he specialized in commercial litigation across a wide spectrum of case areas, such as contract disputes and complex tort claims, class and collective actions, labor and employment, and white-collar defense and investigations. Jim has also defended several clients pro bono, even aiding the exoneration of two men who spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit.
At the beginning of his career, Jim served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. William R. Price, Jr. of the Missouri Supreme Court. He held a two-year clinical graduate fellowship at Georgetown University Law Center in the Criminal Justice Clinic and also served as an assistant public defender with the Missouri State Public Defender’s office in St. Louis, Missouri.
Jim and his wife Elissa, who works in community development finance, have a profound respect for social justice and history. They currently live in the City of St. Louis with their two children and two dogs.
EDUCATION
New York University – J.D. (2001)
Saint Louis University – B.A., Computer Science and Russian Studies, magna cum laude (1998)
LEGAL BACKGROUND
Founding Partner, Khazaeli Wyrsch (2014-present)
Associate, Bryan Cave (2005-2014)
Assistant Public Defender, Missouri State Public Defender (2004-2005)
Prettyman Fellow, Criminal Justice Clinic, Georgetown University Law Center (2002-2004)
Judicial Clerk, Hon. William R. Price, Jr., Missouri Supreme Court (2001-2002)
ADMISSIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
Missouri (2001)
District of Columbia (2002)
United States Court of Appeals – Seventh and Eighth Circuit
United States District Court – Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri
United States District Court – Central and Southern Districts of Illinois
Award from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice, Inc. (2010)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESS
- Bryan Cave Team Helps Free Man Wrongfully Imprisoned For Murder (March 11, 2009)
- How Municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., Profit from Poverty, Washington Post (September 3, 2014)
