James L. Stuart
James L. Stuart jstuart@stuartlawfirm.com

Jim Stuart started nearly four decades of legal work in the housing and insurance representing the North Carolina Home Builders Association and the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.  His work and leadership in representing the NCHBA as general counsel and principal lobbyist led to the 1984 creation of what is today known as Builders Mutual Insurance Company, currently operating in numerous southeastern states and the District of Columbia. Builders Mutual is one of the largest workers’ compensation insurers in North Carolina. Jim’s 13 years of service to the NCHFA and the closing of over $2 billion in housing transactions has earned him recognition as a housing finance practitioner on a national level.
 
Jim has assisted the organizers of several insurance companies and now the firm serves three companies as General Counsel. He continues to lead Stuart Law’s transactional housing clients through the minefields of the current housing economic landscape, serving as developer’s counsel, lender’s counsel, and syndicator’s counsel, utilizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit; HUD & Rural Development Programs and other government incentives. He was formerly bond counsel for Durham County, and has represented public housing authorities in North and South Carolina in developing and financing affordable housing.
 
Before entering the private practice of law, Jim served on the professional staffs of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. He also served as Assistant Attorney General in the North Carolina Department of Justice concentrating in environmental litigation and legislative lobbying.

James L. Stuart

Education

  • B.S.E., with distinction, Duke University, 1971, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Political Science
  • J.D., with honors, George Washington University, 1975

Bar Admissions

  • North Carolina
  • District of Columbia
  • Tennessee
  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina
  • United States District Court, Middle District of North Carolina

Professional Organizations

  • Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development of the American Bar Association
  • American, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wake County Bar Associations