James S. Rummonds

Mr. Rummonds received his BA from Stanford University in 1968, with honors in political science and a minor in economics Mr. Rummonds’ undergraduate honors thesis was on the political organization of American agriculture. In the fall of 1968 Mr. Rummonds entered Stanford Law School. In his second year of law school Mr. Rummonds organized the first environmental law society in the United States. After forming the Stanford ELS Mr. Rummonds devised a plan to organize environmental law societies at every major law school in the United States. Within one year of forming the Stanford ELS there were 135 environmental law societies throughout the United States including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Georgetown, Duke, Michigan, Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Texas, USC, Berkeley, and UCLA. Mr. Rummonds was also the founder and editor of the National Environmental Law Society Newsletter.

In 1970, Mr. Rummonds, was invited by John D. Rockefeller III to join the President’s Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. As a member of the Commission, Mr. Rummonds wrote a Dissent that warned of the dangers of ignoring the consequences of unbridled population growth.

After graduating from law school, Mr. Rummonds moved his family to a small ranch in the Central Valley of California and began his career as a trial lawyer, representing personal injury plaintiffs, criminal defendants, divorce clients, water districts, and agribusiness. All the while, Mr. Rummonds, along with his wife and two sons, raised cattle and grew crops on their ranch.

In 1982, Mr. Rummonds left his law firm general practice to form Rummonds & Mair and concentrate on personal injury and professional negligence cases. By this time Mr. Rummonds had tried dozens of jury trials and established himself as one of the preeminent trial lawyers in California. In 1983 Mr. Rummonds, an avid surfer and sailor, moved his family and practice from the Central Valley to Santa Cruz County where he has been in practice for the past 25 years.

Mr. Rummonds has represented clients to verdict in jury trials in Sacramento, Nevada, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles counties. Mr. Rummonds is the author of numerous articles on civil trial practice and legal ethics, a columnist, and was a contributing editor to West’s two volume set on Civil Trials and Evidence. Mr. Rummonds is also the author of Diary of a Breast Cancer Husband, Times Publishing Company, July 2002. Mr. Rummonds is board certified in Professional Negligence (ABPLA) and Civil Trial Practice (NBTA).