James Tierney (politician)

James E. Tierney
51st Maine Attorney General
In office January 6, 1981 – January 6, 1991
Preceded by	Richard S. Cohen
Succeeded by	Michael E. Carpenter
Personal details
Born	April 12, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, USA
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of Maine, Orono (B.A., 1969) University of Maine School of Law (J.D., 1975) [1]
Profession	Professor, Attorney

James E. Tierney (born April 12, 1947) is an American politician from Maine. At 25, Tierney was elected to the Maine House of Representatives as a Democrat from Lisbon, Maine.^[2] After eight years in the Maine Legislature, where at the age of 29 he was elected Majority Leader,^[3] 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.^[4] Tierney has been characterized by state attorneys general and the media as "America's 51st Attorney General." ^[5]

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.^[2] In 2006, Columbia students recognized him as the Public Interest Law Professor of the Year.^[6] Tierney is quoted widely on the operations of the office of state attorney general. He is a frequent speaker at meetings of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). Video of some of those remarks are located at the National State Attorneys General Program website . Tierney has been a regular commentator on Court TV (TruTV) since its founding in 1991. In that capacity he has commented on a wide range of trials from the celebrated cases of the early 1990s to the recent military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay.

Tierney may be best known as one of the key strategists in the state cases against the tobacco industry in reclaiming Medicaid payments paid out for tobacco-related disease.^[7]

Tierney also has advised officials in Eastern Europe's emerging democracies, has supervised national elections in Bulgaria, Cameroon, Croatia and Albania, and was special counsel in the investigation of alleged corruption within the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Tierney, a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, married author and fellow Maine native Elizabeth Strout in 2011.^[8]

Tierney also serves as a Lecturer at Harvard Law School where he teaches a course on the role of state attorneys general.^[9]

References

1. "Harvard Law School Faculty Directory, James Tierney", Harvard Law School
2. Anderson, Jenny (2002). "The Maine Man". Institutional Investor. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
3. "Past Leaders of the Maine House of Representatives". Maine House of Representatives. 2007. Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
4. Brennan, Lisa (2 February 1993). "The Maine man; special investigator of Supreme Court seeks cooperation.". The Legal Intelligence. 209: 2. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
5. Schwartz, John (1998-11-17). "Fighting Smoke With Fire in the Legal Fight Against Tobacco". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
6. "Jim Tierney Awarded The Public Interest Professor of the Year Award". Columbia Law School. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
7. Helm, Hunt (1997-06-11). "Strategist of Smoking Assault Calls Shots from Maine Farm" (PDF). Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2007-03-21.,
8. "Pulitzer-Winning Fiction Writer, Former AG Plan UMaine Visits". University of Maine. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
9. http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/index.html?id=943