James Sexton (attorney)

His mother was a nurse and art teacher and his father was a 1966 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and veteran of the Vietnam Conflict.

Sexton was raised Roman Catholic.

Sexton graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey and received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in East Asian Studies.

He subsequently graduated from New York University with a Master of Arts degree from the Department of Culture and Communication where he studied under Dr. Neil Postman, who acknowledged Sexton as a research assistant in Postman's last book (“The End of Education”).

James Joseph Sexton (born 1972) is an American attorney focusing his practice exclusively in divorce and family law in the New York metropolitan area.

Sexton is a frequent media commentator on divorce-related issues and the author of two books on preventing divorce and maintaining a happy marriage.

James Joseph Sexton was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

After completing his M.A. and teaching undergraduate classes at New York University while working on his PhD, Sexton decided to attend law school and, in 2001, graduated from Fordham University School of Law where he obtained his Juris Doctor.

In 2001, less than one year after his admission to the New York State Bar, Sexton opened Law Offices of James J. Sexton, PC where he has remained Managing Partner for over two decades.

Sexton had a recurring segment “How To Stay In Love” on the Steve Harvey Show from 2019-2021.

Sexton believes social media is an "infidelity-generating machine", and recommends getting off the online platform to save a relationship.

He advocates that everyone get a prenuptial agreement, but strongly discourages fidelity clauses and sunset clauses.

Sexton expressed his opinion that “Marriage is an inherently negligent activity similar to owning a lion as a pet or having a trampoline next to a radioactive waste pile". He considers marriage to be a technology that fails 76% of the time, and he posited, "If I told you there’s a 76% chance when you walk out the door today, you’re going to get hit in the head with a bowling ball, you would not go out, or you’d wear a helmet.” From Sexton's standpoint, his clients fall out of love "very slowly, then all at once [...] no single raindrop is responsible for the flood. Divorce, in fact, is like death by a thousand papercuts.”

In a review for the New York Times, Judith Newman says “who would have guessed that the person who gives the best advice about marriage was the guy responsible for getting you out of yours?”.

In the NJ.com review, Jacqueline Cutler writes that the book is a "a delightful surprise [...] Sexton is not offering the usual how-to-have-a-happy marriage book, but rather a how-not-to-divorce book"

Sexton is divorced and has two sons.

Sexton lives in Manhattan (West Chelsea) and the Catskill Region.

Sexton is an avid practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and longtime student of Marcelo Garcia.

His parents were married for 53 years until his mother passed away after a long battle with cancer.