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James Roberts is a founding attorney and Managing Director in the Washington
DC law office of Van Scoyoc Kelly PLLC. His practice focuses on government contract
law and litigation and encompasses all phases of the acquisition process, including
advice on the preparation of bids and proposals, the negotiation, protest, and
defense of contract awards, and the administration of contract performance,
including disputes, claims and appeals. Mr. Roberts also represents clients
in corporate, commercial contracting, environmental, construction, leasing,
legislative, and procurement fraud-related civil and criminal matters.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Roberts was the Chief of Government Contract Law for the Department of Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service, from 1983 to 1988, where he was the principal legal adviser and chief trial attorney in all matters involving government contracting, including multi-million dollar computer and telecommunications systems acquisitions, and all proceedings before Boards of Contract Appeals, and the General Accounting Office.
Mr. Roberts was an Attorney-Adviser in the Procurement Law Division of the Office of General Counsel, U.S. General Accounting Office, from 1978 to 1983, where he was involved in writing the decisions of the Comptroller General in the areas of government contract protests, grant complaints, and fiscal law matters.
From 1974 to 1978, Mr. Roberts served on military active duty in the Army JAG Corps as a legal officer assigned to military justice and government contracting matters, including the acquisition of major weapons systems. Recently he served as a reserve Army Lieutenant Colonel and commanded a District of Columbia Army National Guard legal detachment at the Pentagon involved in administrative, contract, and environmental law for the National Guard Bureau.
Mr. Roberts has authored several articles on government contracting topics, and is a frequent speaker and instructor on the subject. He was a faculty member for government contract and computer law courses at the Department of Justice Legal Education Institute, and a government contract litigation instructor for the General Services Administration’s IT Manager "Trail Boss" Program. He co-chairs the Federal Bar Association’s annual briefing conference on government contracts.
Mr. Roberts received an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1971, and a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1974, where he served as an editor of the law review. He is a member of the Bars of Iowa, the District of Columbia, various federal courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States.