James Mooney

• He was raised by his grandmother, "Grandma Annie". Unknown to James, Grandma Annie suffered a stroke several months before and has been paralyzed in her left arm and leg. She also has diabetes. Doctors recommend that she be placed in a nursing home. Grandma Annie didn't want anyone to know of her health problems because she knew that they would take Tyler and Aaron from her care.(Tyler and Aaron appear to be 5-7 years old. I'm assuming that Tyler and Aaron are also related to James---Milz) Grandma Annie lives at 121 Hill Street*["Solidarity"].
• His sister is Angela (AKA Angie). Angie lived with her abusive boyfriend, Trey Jones. Her son, Levi, learned that Trey was beating her again and went over to their apartment to protect his mother. When he arrived, he got into a physical altercation with Trey. Trey grabbed a gun hidden in a drawer. They struggled and the gun discharged into Trey's abdomen. Trey latter dies of his wounds in the hospital. Levi is charged with his murder. James represents Levi and gets custody of him. (Alvin represents Levi in the custody case.) 16 year old Levi is tried in the juvenile court system for Trey's death and is sentenced to 18 months detention and probation. ["Solidarity"]
• While living with James for a month, Levi continues to get into trouble, like smoking pot and skipping school. James hires a "baby-sitter", a former drug-addicted gang-banger named "Tof" (or Toph) Nance. Nance is wheel-chair bound due to a gun-shot injury. Levi seems to play it straight for a brief time. However, Tof notices that Levi stole his prescription pain medication. James is infuriated and confronts Levi. They settle their differences in a boxing ring. Later, Alvin sees Levi's bruised face and confronts James, suggesting James should take parenting classes. James refuses stating that he has his own parenting methods and they work. ["Lawyers, Guns and Money"]
  Upon seeing Levi with a black eye from more boxing, Alvin suggests to James to take parenting classes. James refuses. Laurie gets involved and James continues to refuse parenting classes. Eventually, there is a court hearing for Levi's custody again. With Nick representing James, James loses custody of Levi, who is placed in the Shuman Center for 2 months due to his crime and due to the parole violations. James blames Alvin.["The Beginning"]
• After Levi�s stay at Shuman, he is transferred to the North Castle School for Boys. Levi is far from the model student at this reform school. One evening he is �beaten out� of his old street gang. He refuses to identify his assailants which leads him to be expelled from the school. (Something about the honor code stating that he must answer truthfully any question put to him. His refusal to answer breaks the honor code.) Anyhow, enough strings are pulled so that Levi is sent to the Christian Boys Academy. Tragically, on Levi�s first night at the facility, members of his old gang break into his room and suffocate him to death. ["The Dark�]

Education:

• Undergraduate: ?
• Law School: Unnamed "night school", graduated from law school 6 years ago ["Pilot", "Reunion"]

Employment:

• Attorney at Legal Services of Pittsburgh (formerly Children's Legal Services of Pittsburgh). James has been working for Legal Services for 8 years [Columbia TriStar Production site]. He quits Legal Services after Levi is placed at the Shuman Center. ["The Beginning"]
• Associate at Fallin and Straka[�Testimony�, �Monster�]
• Associate (though employment not formalized) with "Fallin & Fallin". However due to a conflict of interest, James resigns and is fired by Nick at the same time. He briefly pairs up with a sleazy lawyer, Reginald Harris, for a class action suit. The suit falls through somewhat, but could still be viable with enough capital. Harris doesn't think it's worth it. James then asks Alvin to co-sign on a loan to start a private practice, which Alvin does. He attempts to continue with the law suit, pitting himself up against Fallin & Fallin. In the end, James is thrown off the case as attorney due to a conflict of interest. Alvin offers him his old job at Legal Services back. James accepts.["The Next Life"]

Misc.:

• Interviewed at Fallin & Associates six years ago ["Reunion"]
• Worked at the Children's Hospital for 8 years while in school["Paternity"] and had athletic scholarships[Columbia TriStar Production site]
• Introduced to Jake Straka in "The Funnies"
• Was a Golden Gloves ["The Beginning"]
• Sheds Legal Services standard garb to don Nick-like uniform[�Monster�]
• Has a tatoo on his right bicep.["The Next Life"]
• Grandma Annie died three months before "The Next Life" in the oncology ward of Allegheny General Hospital["The Next Life"]
• As a teenager, James spent time at the Christian Boys Academy [�The Dark�]