A. James Barnes is Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs and Professor of Law at Indiana University, Bloomington (IU). He previously served as Dean of IUs School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and has taught business law at Indiana University and Georgetown University. His teaching interests include commercial law, environmental law, alternative dispute resolution, law and public policy, and ethics and the public official. He is the co-author of several leading books on business law. From 1985 to 1988, Professor Barnes served as the deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
From 1983 to 1985 he was the EPA general counsel and in the early 1970s served as chief of staff to the first administrator of EPA. Professor Barnes also served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From 1975 to 1981, he had a commercial and environmental law practice with the firm of Beveridge and Diamond in Washington, D.C.
Professor Barnes is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and a fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers. He recently served as the chair of EPAs Environmental Finance Advisory Board, and as a member of the U.S. Department of Energys Environmental Management Advisory Board. From 1992 to 1998 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). Professor Barnes received his B.A. from Michigan State University and a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School.