James Barrett is a Stakeholder at Eimer Stahl, where he handles a wide range of complex litigation and disputes, including commercial litigation, class actions, antitrust litigation, civil rights litigation, civil enforcement actions, and multidistrict litigation. James represents clients in federal and state courts in all phases of litigation, including drafting pleadings, dispositive motions, and other briefs, as well as handling all aspects of discovery, pretrial proceedings, and appeals.
James previously served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Georgia. In that role, he helped coordinate the state’s litigation strategy, drafted briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, Georgia Supreme Court, and U.S. Courts of Appeals, and argued cases before the Supreme Court of Georgia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Among other cases, James secured a reversal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit of a federal-court preliminary injunction of multiple Georgia campaign finance laws, enabling the State to secure its largest settlement ever of a campaign-finance violation.
James graduated with distinction and Order of the Coif from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he served as an Articles Editor for the Northwestern University Law Review, worked as a judicial intern for the Honorable Trevor N. McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and volunteered at legal aid organizations in Chicago. After graduation, James clerked for the Honorable Britt C. Grant of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Experience
Case Experience
Representing a major health insurance company in an action alleging that a pharmaceutical company engaged in a fraudulent kickback scheme to inflate the price of and demand for orphan drugs.
Representing a building products manufacturer impleaded into a case brought by a general contractor against an architect and subcontractors for their negligent design and construction of a commercial hotel property.
Representing a chemical manufacturer in a class action alleging that a paper mill and its product suppliers are responsible for PFAS contamination of plaintiffs’ properties.
Representing a state government in a consumer protection action seeking to hold a major social media company responsible for alleged deceptive practices related to the design of and public statements about its platform's harmful impacts on youth mental health.
Representing a state legislature in a case involving a challenge to a property tax exemption for nonprofit student housing.
Representing an alliance of agricultural cooperatives and a state resident in an action challenging a state attorney general's use of a special prosecutor privately funded by an outside advocacy organization.
Representing a major building products company in multidistrict litigation alleging that various industrial manufacturers—including paper mills, motor manufacturers, and chemical manufacturers—contributed to PFAS pollution in a municipality's water supply.
Representing a major retailer in a class action alleging that the retailer violated various consumer protection laws.
Represented a private college in a putative data privacy class action.
Represented a state legislature as amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the Court to reverse on First Amendment grounds a state supreme court's denial of a religious tax exemption.
Represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as amicus curiae, urging a federal appellate court to reject plaintiffs' attempt to manufacture a jurisdictional hurdle to prevent mass-tort-driven bankruptcies.