James Dougherty advises companies on transactional matters, including takeovers (hostile and negotiated), takeover defense, leveraged buyouts, proxy contests, and hedge fund activism. He serves as Administrative Partner for the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice.

James has worked on a variety of mergers and acquisitions transactions representing acquirors, targets, and special committees, including Goodrich Corporation in its acquisition by United Technologies; The Lubrizol Corporation in its acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway; Cliffs Natural Resources in its acquisition of Consolidated Thompson; the special committee of Hawk Corporation in connection with its sale to the Carlisle Companies; the special committee of EXCO Resources in connection with a proposed management buyout; Nationwide Mutual in its acquisition of Nationwide Financial Services in a going private transaction; and multiple transactions for OM Group, including the acquisition of VAC of Germany.

Other companies with which James has worked on substantial matters include: A. Schulman, Developers Diversified Realty, Diebold, Goldman Sachs, Harris Corporation, Lincoln Electric, Molycorp, Nordson, Olympic Steel, Park-Ohio, PolyOne, Sherwin-Williams, STERIS, and Timken. He also regularly advises investment banking firms as financial advisors on a variety of transactions.

He recently received a "40 Under 40 Recognition Award" from The M&A Advisor and was named by Law360 as a 2013 "Rising Star" in Mergers and Acquisitions.

James was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1998, where he was managing editor of the law review. He joined Jones Day in 2004 and became a partner in 2008.