James W. Skelton, Jr., practiced law for more than 46 years, specializing in international and domestic oil and gas transactions. His main focus was upstream international petroleum transactions in emerging markets, which took him to more than 35 countries in Europe, the Former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. Jim has been a member of the International Law Section since 2014, serving on both the Council and the Action Committee, as well as the International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) since 2015. He worked closely alongside Tom Wilson, and served as the first Editor in Chief of the International Newsletter of the IHRC in 2018-19 and as an assistant editor for three years thereafter. Jim was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Law Center from 2008 to 2016, teaching the course in Energy Law: Doing Business in Emerging Markets, and is a coauthor of the textbook “Doing Business in Emerging Markets: A Transactional Course.” He has also published a memoir and two anthologies, as well as 27 articles for legal periodicals and books, and has made 20 presentations at legal conferences in Houston, Dallas, London and Moscow.