Pflanz, David E.

James Cox was born and raised in Lake Charles, where he graduated as valedictorian of Landry Memorial High School. He attended McNeese State University and Tulane University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1957 and a Juris Doctorate in law in 1959. He received a Fulbright Scholarship and studied at the Faculte de Droit in the University of Paris in 1959-60 before embarking on his law practice.

He has settled hundreds of cases totaling millions of dollars in Jones Act, maritime, personal injury and inadequate security litigation. He served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1991 to 2000, served as President of the Southwest Louisiana bar Association (1989-90) and is a member of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers' Association.