LYNN — Longtime attorney James O’Shea has announced he is running for Essex County District Attorney — a position currently held by Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, who is not running for re-election.
O’Shea grew up on New Park Street in Lynn and was the youngest of six children — three boys and three girls —- with his late father and two brothers also practicing law.
He attended Lynn Public Schools until high school when he went to St. John’s Preparatory School (SJP).
After graduating from SJP in 1990, O’Shea received a political-science degree from Providence College and then his Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University.
O’Shea worked for a practice in Boston out of law school, passed the bar on his first try, and was trying cases shortly after. Starting as a bar advocate in Lynn in 1998, he has been working with people who cannot afford a lawyer on their own ever since.
“I decided that looking at this, with all my experience and the time I’ve put in, that I can serve better by being a district attorney,” O’Shea said.
O’Shea is now living in Middleton with his wife, Tara, of 23 years, with whom he has two daughters; Isabella, 22, a senior at Boston University and Jamison, 19, a freshman at Northeastern University.
O’Shea opened his own practice in 2005 — Moris & O’Shea LLC — after meeting his partner, Attorney Halim Moris, in law school.
“Attorney Moris came to the United States alone from Egypt at a young age and has been named as a Super Lawyer in the field of immigration law,” he said. “Together we have represented people of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds and from seemingly innumerable countries of origin.”
O’Shea has also taught classes at New England School of Law and is a regular guest lecturer there in Moris’ immigration class.
His thoughts about running for district attorney (DA) began about five years ago, but he didn’t want to run against Blodgett because he was a supporter of his. When Blodgett announced he wasn’t running for another term, O’Shea felt it was the perfect time.
O’Shea said he decided to run because he feels like he’s been “training for this job for 24 years.”
“My work to this point has been extremely rewarding,” he said. “In fact, I think it is universally true that everyone feels an inherent sense of well-being when they take the time to help someone that is in a position where they can’t help themselves. That is, on some level, what I do every day. The transition to DA makes perfect sense because it will allow (me) to go from helping one person at a time to helping large numbers of people throughout the county by setting policy in the interest of justice.”
During his 24 years in this profession, O’Shea has appeared in every court in Essex County, seeing when the justice system works at its best and when it doesn’t, hoping to make it work for everyone.
O’Shea said he would bring a “wealth of experience” from his time working and representing people in counties across the state, bringing the best of what he’s seen in these counties to implement as policies.
In a leadership position that asks people to follow your lead such as a DA would, O’Shea believes you should “be able to demonstrate that you know where you are leading them, that you have traveled the path you are asking them to take, you understand the tasks in front of them, and you are not asking them to do anything you haven’t already done yourself,” all of which he said applies to him.
Maintaining work relationships with many of the district attorneys in Essex and other counties, O’Shea said he believes he has earned their trust and respect as someone who is competent, fair and professional, and “someone they would be proud to follow.”
