Experience

Jim Plowman provides voters the necessary experience for the challenges of the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Jim is a proud graduate of Virginia Tech where he received his B.A. in Economics. He put himself through law school at night while working during the day and earned his Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School.

Jim’s legal career includes more than 11 years as a prosecutor and four years in private practice. Jim has served as the lead attorney in more than a thousand bench trials and almost 50 jury trials, with offenses ranging from traffic and misdemeanor cases to rape, gang assaults and homicides.

After achieving success in private practice, Jim was recruited by the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Under the administration of the Honorable Robert F. Horan, Jim was trained to be an effective prosecutor. Horan is a legend among Virginia prosecutors and considered one of Virginia’s best trial attorneys, serving Fairfax County for more than 40 years. Jim learned from the best, gaining invaluable experience that has been utilized throughout his career.

After leaving Fairfax, he worked as a trial attorney for a nationwide insurance Company, arguing cases in courthouses across Northern Virginia. Jim returned to prosecution when he was elected as Loudoun County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2003 and in 2007 by an overwhelming majority of voters.

Jim knows the importance of experience when prosecuting crime. In 2003, the Office had approximately 60 years of prosecution experience; today that number has grown to more than 150. Jim has recruited prosecutors with experience in gang prosecution, cyber-crime, identity fraud, child abuse and domestic violence thus building one of the most talented offices in Virginia. A qualified effort to retain experienced prosecutors has resulted in more guilty verdicts in the courtroom and more guilty offenders behind bars.

At the local level, Jim has been active on the Loudoun County Bar Association’s Board of Directors for five years, including serving as President in 2006. He is also a proud member of the Knights of Columbus, the Loudoun Crime Commission, the Loudoun County Community Criminal Justice Board and a regular volunteer for youth sports organizations throughout the County.

Loudoun County is now the fourth largest jurisdiction in Virginia and a model for regions statewide. Jim has ensured Loudoun have a strong voice on the state level, serving on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys for the past six years. He was appointed by the General Assembly to the Advisory Committee on Computer Crime, the Legislative Task Force on Computer Crime and the Privacy Advisory Committee. Most recently, Jim was elected by his peers to serve as the President of the Virginia Association of Local Elected Constitutional Officers (VALECO), providing a common voice for Clerks, Commissioners, Treasurers, Sheriffs and Commonwealth’s Attorneys across Virginia.