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James Martin Puckett

Biography

James Puckett, currently a practicing tax attorney, was greatly influenced by his community involvement while attending the University of Virginia.

 

"My volunteer activities have shown me firsthand the social problems that confront people from all parts of the world," he says. During his first year at UVA, James served as Director of the LGBT Helpline, which provided information and crisis support for the UVA and local area LGBT community.  He was active in Amnesty International, working on behalf of victims of oppression such as prisoners of conscience.  In addition, he spent two semesters as an ESL tutor helping refugees from Serbia and Korea learn conversational English. "Building close relationships and attempting to help refugees and victims of social injustice has been personally rewarding and has strengthened my resolve to make a difference in the fight for human dignity."

In the Mosaic House, a residential college where he lived for three years and which is devoted to raising multicultural awareness at UVA, James was a webmaster and contributed to the Mosaic House's role in the university's Culture Fest during Parents' Weekend.

James grew up in several small towns in southwestern Virginia, the child of a teenage mother. "I never knew my father because he died in a car crash before my birth." Having experienced hardships growing up, James would like to use his law degree to help the underprivileged.

James aspires to "join the ranks of legal academics and contribute to the growing body of scholarship regarding tax law and policy."

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