During her time at the Vanderbilt University Law School, Lea James, a 34-year-old Foley & Lardner litigation associate, competed in trivia night at a local bar with her team Premature Adjudication. This experience, she says, helped prepare her for a recent appearance on Jeopardy!

But even more than playing trivia games or studying world capitals, James says her courtroom experience, along with her middle school and high school theater kid credentials, buoyed her during filming in June. James performed as a teenager in musicals, such as Little Shop of Horrors and Fiddler on the Roof. She’s also often in court, including the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston.

“Everybody is different, but for me, it helped to have that skill of having been under pressure live and learning that if something goes wrong, you have to roll with it and be agile on your feet,” says James, who works from the law firm’s Boston office.

 Litigation and acting experience “won’t make me know an answer that won’t come to my brain, but it helped me be more calm onstage,” she says.

James’ appearance on Jeopardy! aired July 16, Law360 reports.

Sara Connolly, also a litigation associate in the Boston office of Foley & Lardner, was one of three other lawyers who went with James to Los Angeles for the taping.

"Anyone who knows Lea knows how smart she is, and it was amazing to watch her knowledge and personality shine on a stage like Jeopardy!," says Connolly.

The journey to Jeopardy! started on a whim. About a year ago, James took the initial online test, and the process move quickly after that. She took another test and then played a sample game remotely.

The show’s producers called her in the spring of this year to come to Los Angeles.

Jeopardy! films five episodes per day at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, James says. Because her episode was scheduled to film fourth, she watched the first three from the green room, growing increasingly nervous.

But once James got onstage, her nervousness subsided—similar, she says, to when she appears in court. James competed against a Latin teacher and Caleb Groen, who is pursuing a dual degree at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School and was on a winning streak. This month, he has won $350,000, Harvard Law Today reports.

Jamie Steven, another Foley & Lardner associate who traveled with James, says they got a behind-the-scenes look at how the show comes together by being in the audience and were able to chat with the other contestants' families and friends.

"It was entertaining to watch Ken Jennings appear in a different suit and tie every few hours," Steven says.

James, who admits that she’s naturally competitive, even when it comes to family game night, studied, but she wishes that she had a little more time to dig in on ancient history and a few other topics.

And a spoiler alert: James only appears in one episode, but she has no regrets about participating in the show.

“It’s not something ever in my wildest dreams that I thought that I would be doing,” she says.

See also:

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