James Sheehan was born in New York City and grew up there in a four-room railroad apartment with his five brothers and sisters.

He started working at the age of twelve, shining shoes at a local shoe-repair shop. At fourteen, he had a newspaper round. He worked at a local delicatessen, an antique store where he stripped and delivered furniture, as a construction worker during the summers, a short-order cook throughout his college years, and as a roofer's assistant while he attended graduate school in Florida.

He is currently a trial attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida where he has practiced law for over 30 years. His experience of growing up in New York has shaped his life.