Jim Marshall (Georgia Politician) - Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

The son and grandson of army generals, Marshall was born in Ithaca, New York, but moved frequently during his childhood and graduated from high school in Mobile, Alabama. He entered Princeton University in 1966, but left college in 1968 to enlist in the United States Army. He served in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger reconnaissance platoon sergeant and earned two Bronze Stars (with "V" devices for valor) and a Purple Heart. On June 29, 2006, Marshall was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. He returned to Princeton in 1970 and graduated in 1972. Marshall worked various jobs for two years before entering law school at Boston University, where he earned his J.D. in 1977.

After clerking for two federal district court judges, Marshall was appointed a professor at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, teaching in the areas of property, commercial, insurance, creditor's rights, insolvency, reorganization, and small business law. He was minority recruiter and advisor to the Black Law Student Association at Mercer. From 1987 to 1995, he not only taught at Mercer but also developed a commercial litigation and business insolvency consulting practice, and became involved in civic affairs. Among other things, he served as president of Leadership Macon and the Macon Bar Association. He was also chairman of the Macon Housing Authority. It was during this period that Marshall first became active in politics. He co-chaired the 1990 gubernatorial campaign of former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., and then as the current mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young. Young was defeated in a primary run-off against Zell Miller. Marshall also chaired the successful state senate campaign of Robert Brown, the first African American since reconstruction to be elected to that body from outside the Atlanta metro area.