A. James Barnes

A. James Barnes is Professor of Law and Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, affiliated with the Maurer School of Law and the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He is a nationally recognized expert in environmental law and policy. Barnes earned a B.S. with high honors from Michigan State University in 1964 and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1967. Early in his career, he taught in the business schools at Indiana University and Georgetown University. He served as a trial attorney and assistant to the deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a partner in a major Washington, D.C. law firm. In 1970, Barnes participated in the formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, serving as chief of staff to the first administrator, William Ruckelshaus, and later as EPA General Counsel and Deputy Administrator. He also held the position of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

From 1988 to 2000, Barnes was Dean of the IU O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, during which U.S. News & World Report ranked the school third among public affairs programs and first in environmental policy. At IU, he teaches courses in environmental law, environmental policy, ethics and the public official, law and public policy, commercial law, alternative dispute resolution, and mediation. His research interests encompass environmental law and policy, domestic and international environmental policy, ethics, and law and public policy. Barnes is co-author of leading textbooks including Law for Business, 14th edition (McGraw-Hill, 2020), with prior editions dating back to 1980; Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment, 17th edition (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2018), with earlier editions; and Business Law and the Regulatory Environment: Concepts and Cases, 11th edition (Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2001). Other publications include 'Implementing Presidential Policy Agendas Administratively: A View from the Inside,' Public Administration Review (2009), and contributions to books such as 'Air Pollution Control in the United States' (Praeger, 1997). A Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American College of Environmental Lawyers, he chaired the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board from 2003 to 2010, served on the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Advisory Board from 2005 to 2011, and participated in nine National Academy panels advising Congress and federal agencies on environmental, policy, and justice issues. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Long Island Lighting Company from 1992 to 1998 and as a trustee for the National Institute for Global Environmental Change and America's Clean Water Foundation.

Professional Email: barnesaj@indiana.edu