Colonel James M. Durant III, United States Air Force, Retired, Esq., JD, is federal Career Appointee serving in the United States Senior Executive Service. He is currently Chief Counsel, United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Chicago Operations, with legal cognizance over 11 of the 17 US National Laboratories. Prior to service in the Department of Energy, Colonel Durant served 26 years in the US Air Force as a Judge Advocate (JAG). During his Air Force career, he was appointed twice as a Special Assistant US Attorney and as a Commissioner in Bosnia hearing international war claims cases en banc with a Bosnian Supreme Court Justice and Bosnian Constitutional Court Justice. He also served as the NATO Legal Advisor (LEGAD) for NATO Air South, and as the Deputy NATO LEGAD for NATO HQ Sarajevo, where he was also the Legal Advisor for the US National Intelligence Cell. While stationed in the UK, Colonel Durant served as the Legal Advisor for 30,000 US Forces in the UK and as the Acting US Country Representative to Her Majesty’s Royal Government. In the UK he was also the District Commissioner over 800 Boy Scouts.
He is a leader on the International Judicial Task Force drafting guidance for trying cases before the International Criminal Court. In the States, Colonel Durant was the Legal Director and Assistant Professor of Law at the US Air Force Academy where he supervised 18 Professors of Law and taught Constitutional Law. At the Pentagon, Colonel Durant was Chief of JAG Personnel Policy, JAG Accessions and JAG Recruiting. He has led several JAG offices and has received recognition as the Outstanding JAG of the Year three times. At the US State Department, he drafted the authority for the US to negotiate with Russia for START II. In the American Bar Association (ABA) he led a 24,000 member Division, a Committee on the ABA Board of Governors, and has been a delegate to the ABA House of Delegates for 15 years. Colonel Durant currently chairs the Chicago Federal Executive Board with responsibility for 43 US Departments and Agencies with over 50,000 federal employees. Prior to that, he chaired the Senior Executives Association of the United States. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Fellows, which he chairs. He has received the ABA GPSLD Nelson Award, ABA SSFGPD Lifetime Award and ABA Difference Makers Award.
Colonel Durant is well published and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker. He is admitted to practice law before the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals for Armed Forces and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Howard University where he earned his Military Commission, Bachelors and Juris Doctorate. He is married to Karen Durant and has two sons, Jonathan and James.
