James Lee Lawson was born Jan. 9, 1873, near Williamson, West Virginia. He attended the Male Academy, Wytheville, Va. and received an A.B. from Emory & Henry College, Emory, Va. 1894, an L.L.B. from the University of Virginia, 1896, and took post graduate law courses at Columbia University, New York City. Lawson came to New Mexico in 1900. In 1902 he located and practiced law in Alamogordo. He was one of the organizers of the Citizens National Bank in Alamogordo and a widely known attorney in Otero County, New Mexico.
His interest in politics led him to become the Democratic Chairman of Otero County, 1904-1906. He was elected to the Joint Statehood Convention, 1906, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, 1910. He played a large role in the drafting of the Constitution under which New Mexico was admitted to Statehood. In spite of a unanimous Democratic nomination for the first Attorney General of the State of New Mexico, Lawson refused the nomination. He continued his active role in politics, however, as a member of the Resolutions Committee, Democratic National Committee, 1920. He attended the Democratic National Convention in 1932, which first nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt for President. He also served as President of the New Mexico Bar Association, 1920, was a 32nd degree Mason, Knight Templar, Shriner, member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science as well as a member of the American Judicature Society. Lawson died in Alamogordo, N.M. in 1952.
From the guide to the James Lee Lawson Papers, ., 1909-1946, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)
