James Tierney

Who is James Tierney?

James E. Tierney is an American politician from Maine. At 25, Tierney was elected to the Maine House of Representatives as a Democrat from Lisbon, Maine. After eight years in the Maine Legislature, where at the age of 29 he was elected Majority Leader, Tierney became the Maine Attorney General. He served in that capacity for ten years during which time he was active on a wide variety of state and national issues. After leaving office in 1990, he began a career as a consultant to attorneys general. In December 1992 he was named as special attorney general to investigate misconduct allegations on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Tierney has been characterized by state attorneys general and the media as "America's 51st Attorney General."

Tierney is Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School, where he has been a Lecturer in Law since 2000. Tierney teaches a course in multistate litigation and has written extensively on a wide range of topics, such as the often volatile relationship between state AGs and their governors. In 2006, Columbia students recognized him as the Public Interest Law Professor of the Year.