Jim Weidner was born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1982 with degrees in History and Political Science. He moved to Georgia as soon as he could and arrived in Atlanta in 1982. He graduated from Georgia State University’s College of Law in 1987, and worked full-time as a clerk with the FBI in Atlanta while attending law school.

Jim Weidner began his legal career in 1987 with the law firm of Drew, Eckl & Farnham, a large insurance defense firm in Atlanta, Georgia.

• In 1988, he began working as an associate with Jack Carey and Chris Walker in Gainesville, Georgia. 
• On January 1, 1990, Carey & Walker merged with the law firm of Deal & Jarrard to form the law firm Carey, Deal, Jarrard & Walker. Nathan Deal, one of Jim’s former law partners, was elected to the U.S. Congress in November 1992 and when Nathan withdrew from the practice of law, the partnership became Carey, Jarrard & Walker. (Nathan was elected as the 82nd Governor of the State of Georgia in 2010, an office to which he was re-elected in 2014).
• On March 1, 1998, Jim moved his practice to Clarkesville, Georgia as a sole practitioner.
• On January 1, 2006, he formed his law partnership with William R. “Bill” Oliver.
• On January 18, 2010, retired Chief Superior Court Judge for the Mountain Judicial Circuit, Ernest H. “Bucky” Woods, III joined the firm.
• On February 8, 2021, former US Representative Doug Collins joined the firm.
• In December 2022, law partner, Bill Oliver, was named to the Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Bench by Governor Brian Kemp