James A Reeder

James Reeder is a member of the Patton Boggs Public Policy practice group, where he advises and represents clients on business, legislative, regulatory, and policy matters in the energy, transportation, communications, and gaming industries. Mr. Reeder plays an integral role on behalf of his clients for securing appropriations and federal funding on numerous projects from both federal and private sources.  He has represented clients in administrative, investigative, and regulatory proceedings before the Justice Department (DOJ), the Department of Energy, the Commerce Department, the Department of Interior, and other Executive Department agencies.  He deals on a regular basis with the members and staffs of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee.  His energy clients utilize his knowledge of the technical aspects of nuclear and fossil fuels as well as the interplay between the federal government and global marketing. Mr. Reeder has been active in national and Louisiana politics most of his life.  Throughout his career he has successfully pursued parallel undertakings in law, politics, and merchant banking.  He was Director of Special Projects for Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA) and served other Louisiana public officials for over 25 years.  Mr. Reeder has also owned and operated a group of radio stations and was formerly associated with a large merchant banking firm in Houston, Texas. Jim attended Washington & Lee University where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, graduating with honors in 1955. After serving as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he attended S.M.U. Law School, where he met his soul mate, life partner and joyous co-adventurer, Leone Guthrie. They married in 1958 . Jim continued his legal education at the Univ. of Texas School of Law (L.L.B. 1960) and, L.S.U. Law School (J.D. 1961). From 1961-1972, he practiced law at Booth, Lockard, Jack, Pleasant and LeSage in Shreveport, ultimately becoming the firm's managing partner. In 1991, he and Leone started a new chapter of their lives as they moved to Washington, D.C. where Jim returned to the practice of law as a partner at Patton Boggs, where he remained until his death. He loved Patton Boggs. Known on Capitol Hill as a brilliant story teller and an endless fount of jokes and anecdotes, he was nonetheless a keen strategist and skilled negotiator. In 2007, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame. Jim leaves behind his children; Mary Virginia Reeder of Dallas, James Arthur Reeder, Jr. of Houston, and Elizabeth Reeder Neubauer of Austin; his sons-in-law, Eric Nevil and Rick Neubauer; his grandchildren, Margaret Grace Vroom, James Guthrie Vroom, Grace Kathryn Nevil, Jackson Charles Nevil; his sister, Sally Reeder Schneider of Houston; and cousins, extended family, adopted family, and loved ones too numerous to count.