About Me

I am a 2L at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law interested in littoral property, intertidal access, and public trust law. I also have experience doing legal advocacy for the disability community.

Before pursuing a legal career, I worked for a decade as a writer and editor. I wrote mostly from the intersections of humanity, culture, and the environment. Some of my writing has appeared in Hakai Magazine, The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Real Life, Men's Health, and others. My editing has primarily been in academia.

As an undergraduate research assistant, I co-edited The Female American (Broadview Press). Currently, I volunteer with New Hampshire Audubon's New Hampshire Bird Records, contribute to The Joy of Birding, and write regularly at the Substack publication, Rock & Hawk.

Physical work, particularly digging postholes, has provided me with valuable perspective. I've done trail maintenance, managed seasonal conservation employees, and worked briefly as a farmhand.

In 2022, I was in a collision with a tractor-trailer and sustained a diffuse axonal injury (traumatic brain injury). The resulting disability is chronic, often invisible, and reshaped my life. My TBI is why I chose to pursue a legal career.

I have also spoken on podcasts and on a panel for the Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic at the Georgia State University College of Law. Between everything else, I am working on a memoir about my experience in recovery—finding meaning in birds, reclaiming fly fishing despite disability, and rebuilding a life after trauma and loss.

Education

Santa Clara University
B.A. English, 2015

New York University
M.A. Cultural Reporting & Criticism, 2018

UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law
J.D. expected 2028

Contact

James.Freitas@law.unh.edu | james.amfreitas@gmail.com