Professor James Sweet was raised in Massachusetts.  He received a B.S. degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude.  Professor Sweet then received a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School, where he was an Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif.  Professor Sweet has published Opting-Out of Commercial Telemarketing: The Constitutionality of the National Do-Not-Call Registry, 70 TENN. L. REV. 921 (Summer 2003), which explores the scope of First Amendment protection for commercial speech relative to non-commercial speech, as applied to the national do-not-call registry.

After graduating from law school, Professor Sweet clerked for the Honorable Judge Nina Gershon on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the Honorable Judge Jane Roth on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Then, Professor Sweet served as a Senior Associate at Goodwin Procter, LLP in Boston, Massachusetts handling civil litigation and appeals; a Special Assistant District Attorney in Lowell, Massachusetts prosecuting criminal cases; and a Trial Attorney at the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, National Courts Section in Washington, District of Columbia litigating government contract disputes before the Court of Federal Claims and appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  Professor Sweet was appointed an Administrative Judge on the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals in 2016, where he presides over government contract disputes between contractors and the military.  Professor Sweet resides in Virginia with his wife and two children.  He enjoys running, listening to opera, and traveling.