Areas of Practice include:

Tax Certiorari
Litigation
Municpal Law

Richard P. James is a partner at Mackenzie Hughes LLP who has practiced in the areas of tax certiorari, municipal law and commercial litigation for over twenty years.

Richard has represented municipalities and private land owners throughout New York State in disputes concerning real property taxation and assessment. He has experience with the taxation and valuation of many different property types.

His municipal experience includes service as special legal counsel to the County of Onondaga, the Cities of Syracuse, Cortland, Binghamton and Oswego, and numerous towns, school districts and public authorities throughout New York State. He has successfully defended scores of assessments on behalf of municipalities, some involving properties assessed for hundreds of millions of dollars.

On behalf of companies and private individuals Richard has secured tax exemptions and multi-million dollar assessment reductions, saving his clients millions of dollars in tax liability.

He graduated with High Honors from Onondaga Community College, summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Geneseo and magna cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. While in law school, Richard received the State and Local Government Award, served as Publications Editor for the Buffalo Law Review and published an article on governmental immunity.

He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1990 and the United States District Court, Northern District of New York, in 1991. He is a member of the American, New York State, Onondaga County and Oswego County Bar Associations.

Richard has served his home town as Town Justice and as Chairman of its Zoning Board of Appeals. He was appointed by the Chief Judge of New York State's highest court to serve on the Board of Trustees of the New York State Lawyer Assistance Trust.

In his spare time he enjoys his family and motor sports, especially riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles.