James Riley Hodder

I majored in music in undergraduate school, specializing in voice and French horn.  I was a music teacher for awhile, and finally determined that music made a better avocation then a vocation.  So, while music became my hobby, I became a computer programmer.  I specialized in small computer financial systems.  This led to jobs as a programmer, software consultant, support department manager, and IT director.  For music, I sang in church choirs.  The most notable of these was the Trinity Choir of Trinity Church, in Copley Square in Boston.  As a member of that choir, I participated in two tours oversees (to England and to Central Europe) and several recordings.  My father always said that music is not a spectator sport, and I've always lived by that creed.

I attended Suffolk Law School and graduated in 2007.  My first legal job was for a firm that specialized in workers' compensation.  My main role was to write appeal briefs to the Reviewing Board of the Department of Industrial Accidents.  I wrote over 85 of these briefs, which is an extraordinary number.  Since October of 2008, fully a quarter of all Reviewing Board decisions have been on issues in which I filed a brief.  This unusual experience has given me a deep understanding of workers' compensation law.  I have since gone on to represent clients at all branches and levels of the DIA.  I'm trying to make a difference, one person at a time.

In 2009, I helped a friend through a chapter 7 bankruptcy.  I have since worked on developing a bankruptcy practice in order to help people in financial distress get through tough times.  Again, hoping to do what I can to make a difference for people.