James Tierney
Clinical Instructor and Director of the
State Attorney General Clinic
In 2002, after 10 years as Attorney General of Maine and 20 years consulting with attorneys general as well as being involved in major cases with them (tobacco, Microsoft, predatory lending, et. al.), Jim formed the National State Attorney General Program at Columbia Law School, a major “think tank” on issues that arise with the offices of state attorneys general. In 2010, he combined his Columbia responsibilities with coming to Harvard Law School where he teaches a course on the Role of the Attorney General and directs the State Attorney General Clinic.
Jim has always been fascinated with the intersection of law and social policy. He says “because both come together in the offices of state attorneys general, I have been hooked on state AG’s for 35 years.”
His proudest accomplishment at Harvard has been the expansion of the existing AG clinic in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General to all other states. During the winter term, students worked on the East and West coasts, as well as AG offices in New Mexico, Missouri, and Illinois.
Jim loves teaching. He meets with every student regularly and encourages students to talk in every class. “I particularly love the wide geographical diversity I find at Harvard, and that almost all of my students want to “go back home” and make their state and country a more just place to live” he says.
Jim describes his wife as a “reformed lawyer” as well as a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. He loves to read the fiction she suggests and goes with her on her many book tours and speaking engagements. “And, of course, I love Maine high school basketball. Doesn’t everyone?”