Jim Noles is a partner with Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham, where he is a member of the firm's natural resources and environment law section. Noles earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Prior to attending law school, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, during which he flew a UH-1H helicopter and filled a variety of leadership and staff positions. Although the law is his vocation, writing is his avocation. His recently published books include A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America-One State Quarter at a Time and  Twenty-Three Minutes to Eternity: The Final Voyage of the Escort Carrier USS Liscome Bay .

* Noles is a Humanities Happening presenter.