James Bryant is an experienced higher education professional with over two decades of hands-on institutional experience over a wide range of issues. Bryant holds a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a law degree. He was formerly the chairperson of the Higher Education practice at the Stolar Partnership, based in St. Louis, and for almost a decade before that was with the Washington D.C. firm of Dow, Lohnes.

Bryant’s practice covers a wide range of issues affecting higher education. These include NCAA issues and related litigation, governance issues, accreditation projects, institutional development, financial and administrative restructures, student affairs, complex internal investigations as well as the defense of institutions charged with a variety of infractions. Over the past few years, Bryant and his team have litigated successfully against the NCAA in a case that marked the first time ever a Division One athletic program was given early entry into post-season tournaments and full division one benefits. He also headed up a team that investigated an alleged cover-up by the Administration of a Big Ten university of a sexual assault by members of one of its athletic teams, defended a major university against allegations by the New York Attorney General that it had improperly benefited from its student loan programs, helped a private institution receive an $18 million dollar grant and assisted numerous institutions with structural changes and administrative reorganizations.

Bryant has also contemporaneously served in a number of in-house capacities at the institutions he has worked with. He has been the Assistant to the Dean for External Relations at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Special Counsel to the University of Iowa Board of Regents, and General Counsel to the Phillips Theological Seminary.  At Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Bryant served in a number of capacities, including General Counsel, Treasurer, Acting, Interim, and Vice President for Business and Legal Affairs and Chief Executive Officer.

Over the years Bryant has served many institutions in other roles as well. He has been a board member at three liberal arts colleges, taught at the University of Louisville, Oklahoma City University School of Law, Phillips University and Wichita State University as well as given guest lecturers at the William and Mary School of Law and the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Bryant has been a trial judge three times, an assistant district attorney and served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he was the only freshman in state history to be the Vice-Chairman of two standing committees. He is a member of the Oklahoma Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission. He was recently selected as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of College and University Law published by the Notre Dame Law School.