James Barber was born and raised in Richwood, Nicholas County, West Virginia.He is the son of longtime Richwood attorney Jim Barber, and his wife Mary.James graduated from in 1977 and attended .After graduating from the of with a Mechanical Engineering degree, James attended 's as his father had.Upon his graduation in 1984, James went to work at the firm of DiTrapano & Jackson, learning his trial skills from Rudy DiTrapano and Rod Jackson.James left D&J in 1992, joining Doug Hunt for five years.After 2 years at a firm doing primarily asbestos litigation, James started his own successful firm in May of 2000.James has tried cases throughout and has lectured several times at seminars presented by the West Virginia College of Law Continuing Legal Education office.James and Laura, his wife of 25 years, reside in where they have raised five daughters.James has coached youth, travel, junior high and high school soccer for nearly 15 years, and served as assistant coach for the girls soccer team at for 9 years.For a decade, James has contributed to the community by serving as President of the Kanawha-Charleston Soccer Foundation, a non-profit group which owns and maintains soccer fields for use by the local community.James can often be found at the fields mowing and performing other maintenance.James is an avid fly fisherman, snow skier and Mountaineer football & basketball fan.