James T. Chiles has never represented anyone but the accused. His entire practice has been criminal defense.
Mr. Chiles has handled hundreds of cases in more than twenty Texas counties, concentrated in Collin County and across the Dallas–Fort Worth area. His work spans the most serious charges the State of Texas prosecutes and all variety of misdemeanors:
- Family violence and domestic assaults
- Stalking & Harassment
- Assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
- Murder and other violent felonies
- Sexual assault and crimes against children
- Drug charges, from possession to manufacture or delivery (“MAN/DEL”)
Long before he was a lawyer, Mr. Chiles argued for a living. He reached the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament as a college competitor, and has coached multiple teams to State championships. Prior to law school, he competed or coached in competitive debate beginning in 2009. That is seventeen years spent doing one thing: finding the weak point in a case and picking the right angle to take it apart. Criminal defense rewards the same skillset. Mr. Chiles believes his experience in debate and martial arts has contributed to a “built different” mindset that has benefited to a creative, thorough, and outside-the-box approach to defending people from criminal charges.
Mr. Chiles earned his Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where he served as Chief of the SMU Criminal Justice Clinic. After graduating he was a post-bar intern with the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. He then spent the early part of his career in private practice learning from criminal defense lawyers with decades of trial experience, before co-founding Chiles McGuire Criminal Law with his partner Patrick McGuire.
Mr. Chiles has been awarded Top 40 Under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers, Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Avvo’s Client Choice, and more. His clients have called him a “lawdog.” He enjoys martial arts and getting cases dismissed. His favorite charges to defend are manufacture/delivery of controlled substances, family violence assaults, sex offenses, and criminal charges which implicate the first amendment’s guarantee on our freedom of speech and of the press.
