Jim is originally from Waynesboro, PA. After high school, Jim graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1983 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation, Jim started working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In 1989, Jim graduated from the George Mason University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree. Since graduation from law school, Jim has worked as a patent/licensing attorney for a patent law firm (Schlesinger and Myers) and a variety of Fortune 500 companies such as General Electric, Mead/Westvaco, Hewlett-Packard, and Avago Technologies/LSI.

Jim has prepared and prosecuted over 400 patent applications which were filed at the USPTO in such technological areas as printers, mobile communications, pulp and paper manufacturing, aircraft engines, consumer appliances, magnetic resonance imaging, lasers, locomotive engines, superconductor materials, lighting, medical devices, fuel cells, computer technologies, and optical coatings. Jim has also prepared and filed over 50 trademark applications with the USPTO. Jim also has an extensive background in foreign filing of patent applications and trademark applications. Jim has conducted licensing discussion with many Fortune 500 companies. Those discussions have culminated in executing licensing agreements having an overall deal value in excess of $100 million dollars.

Jim is currently a resident of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. In 2014, Jim opened the Law Offices of James R. McDaniel which is also located in Nazareth. The law practice focuses primarily on intellectual property and licensing law matters. Jim is a member of the Virginia Bar Association, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Bar Association of Lehigh County. Jim has been working with APKC since 2017. Jim is married and has a nine-year-old son who attends Our Lady of Perpetual Help school in Bethlehem.