Dual LLM, Government Procurement and Environmental Law,
The George Washington University Law School
JD, Syracuse University College of Law
BA, Boston College

James H. Kennedy III currently serves as New England Law | Boston’s CEO and Dean. Prior to joining the New England Law team, Dean Kennedy served as the Commandant of the Air Force’s Judge Advocate General’s School. In this capacity, he led a team of military and civilian employees providing legal education and training for approximately 20,000 legal professionals, commanders, and other leaders throughout the Air and Space Forces and the Department of Defense. Other significant assignments over his almost 28 years of service as an Air Force JAG include serving four assignments as a Staff Judge Advocate (Chief General Counsel) spanning eleven years. His final stint as a Staff Judge Advocate was four years at Headquarters, United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa (HQ-USAFE-AFAFRICA), where he was the Senior Supervisory Air Force Attorney for both Europe and Africa, overseeing 270 legal professionals at 13 different locations. Dean Kennedy has also served as the Air Force’s senior military acquisition law attorney, holding the position of Director, Acquisition Law and Litigation, from 2016-2019, and earlier as the Director, Commercial Law and Litigation Directorate, where he was designated as the Air Force’s Chief Trial Attorney for acquisition litigation and responsible for a $32 billion litigation portfolio. Earlier in his Air Force career, Dean Kennedy served as both a prosecutor and defense counsel on criminal matters and has litigated over 100 trials in court. Dean Kennedy has received a number of awards over his career including three Legion of Merit Awards (2019, 2023, 2024), winner of the American Bar Association’s Award for the Most Outstanding Career of a Judge Advocate (2019), and winner of the Air Force Association’s Stuart R. Reichart award given to the most outstanding senior attorney (military or civilian) for the Air Force (2020).