James Heilpern has served the International Center for Law and Religion Studies as a member of the Documents sub-team for the International Law and Religion Symposium and a member of the Center Management Board with responsibilities for Latin America. Since coming to law school, he has worked on numerous amici curiae briefs submitted to courts around the world including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Texas, and the Constitutional Court of Colombia. In 2013, he interned at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where he worked on several high-profile First Amendment cases including Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Since then, James has also worked at the Utah Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, and the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Following graduation, he will clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Prior to coming to law school, James received his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies and archaeology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with highest honors and with distinction. He was also one of only 125 students in his graduating class of over 3000 to be designated a Carolina Research Scholar for his original research on synagogues in antiquity, Jewish-Mormon relations, and the ritual elements of the Gospel of Thomas. Following his freshman year of college, he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Montevideo, Uruguay. He also spent two summers in Israel working as an archaeologist with the Huqoq Excavation Project.