James M. Wicks was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of
New York on April 26, 2021.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Wicks spent over 25 years at Farrell Fritz, P.C. in New York, where 
he was a Partner, served on the Management Committee and later as the firm’s first General Counsel. 
Judge  Wicks’  practice  concentrated  in business and  commercial  litigation,  as well  as 
attorney ethics and professionalism issues.  Prior to Farrell Fritz, he was an associate with White 
& Case.  While in private practice, Judge Wicks also served as a Receiver and Special Master in 
various matters, as well as a court-appointed mediator in appellate matters.

Judge Wicks has served as an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s University School of Law since 2005.  
He has served a number of leadership roles in the region, including as Chairs of several 
not-for-profits, as well as Chair of the E.D.N.Y. Civil Litigation Advisory Committee; member of 
the State and Federal Judicial Advisory Council; member of the N.Y.S. Judicial Institute of 
Professionalism; former Chair of the N.Y.S. Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation 
Section; and Chair of the Federal Bar Council’s Central Islip Courthouse Committee.

Judge Wicks graduated from St. John’s University School of Law in 1989 where he was Executive 
Articles Editor of the Law Review, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheeling College 
in 1983, where he was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit National Honor Society as well as 
Psi Chi, the Psychology National Honor Society. Following law school, he served as Law Clerk to the 
Honorable Arthur D. Spatt in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
New York.