Jim currently manages Rose Harrison Gilreath & Powers real estate team where he routinely helps realtors, buyers, sellers and their lenders bring their Outer Banks real estate transactions to a successful conclusion. In addition, Jim and the firm have extensive experience assisting the interval ownership industry with their real estate needs on the Outer Banks when they need local experienced lawyers.

Jim also manages the firm's estate administration (probate) division. He has gained substantial experience as a court appointed administrator in navigating complex contested estates, and guardianships. Jim and his knowledgeable team work daily with our area Clerks of Court in Manteo and Currituck and their probate clerks to ensure your loved one’s North Carolina estate is handled timely, accurately, and with minimal stress to you and your family.

Jim started as a lawyer in the First Circuit Solicitor’s office in Orangeburg, South Carolina as a prosecutor, where he handled a broad range of crimes including serious drug felonies. In 2000, sensing a call to cross the border as a lawyer on the Outer Banks, Jim contacted his fellow Washington and Lee alum, Peebles Harrison, who brought him on as the law firm’s first associate. Jim cut his teeth in North Carolina working on a variety of matters from criminal to family law in the firm’s general practice, trying cases, both jury and nonjury, in both District and Superior Courts of the First District.

A third-generation lawyer, born and raised in South Carolina, and a Washington and Lee University graduate, (B.A. Geology/Environmental Science 1994), Jim received his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law (J.D. 1997). While in law school, he served the South Carolina Environmental Law Journal as Articles Editor and as a member of the Honor Council. Before and during law school, Jim spent several summers working on the Outer Banks. Jim successfully navigated both the North Carolina and South Carolina Bar exams (and I-95) in the same week. Jim is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, the South Carolina Bar, the North Carolina Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Real Estate Lawyers Association of North Carolina (RELANC). He is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the Eastern and Western North Carolina Districts of the United States District Court and all state courts in North and South Carolina. Jim currently heads the First Judicial District Bar candidate committee.  Jim served as an Out of State Delegate to the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates. Jim remains a certified Arbitrator in North Carolina's First Judicial District.

Jim resides in Manteo with his wife, Ashley, and two sons. Committed to community and church, Jim routinely assists local non-profits with their legal needs, having previously served as counsel to Outer Banks Sporting Events.  Jim currently serves on the Roanoke Island Advisory Board of the North Carolina Aquariums-Roanoke Island.   Previously, Jim served as President of the Dare County Jaycees, Chairman of the Board of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce (2x-2008 & 2023), a board member of the Community Care Clinic of Dare and a member of the Manteo Rotary Club (past Rockfish Rodeo Chair). Jim and Ashley are both elders at Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church. Outside the office, Jim enjoys hunting, fishing and college sports.  In fitter days, Jim completed 7 marathons including two Boston Marathons.