About Jim
The only Alaskan to lead an AmLaw 200 law firm, Jim served as Stoel’s Firm Managing Partner before returning to his full-time, Alaska-based litigation practice in 2020. Jim has tried to conclusion more than 40 cases, most to federal or state juries. He has handled more than 35 appeals, arguing cases in the Alaska Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Jim Torgerson is the best at what he does,” “I would use Jim in a heartbeat on any litigation matter” say sources in Chambers and Partners’ annual survey of America’s best lawyers for business. Best Lawyers® selected Jim as Anchorage’s 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” in three areas: Litigation—Environmental, Litigation—Real Estate, and Professional Malpractice Law—Defendants. In the past, Best Lawyers® has selected Jim as Anchorage’s “Lawyer of the Year” in Bet-the-Company Litigation—2022; Litigation—Environmental—2012, 2016, 2018 and 2020; Litigation—Mergers and Acquisitions—2017 and 2019; and Litigation—Real Estate—2015. Super Lawyers has selected Jim as one of the “Top 10” lawyers in Alaska every year since 2011.
Jim’s practice reflects Alaska. For decades, he’s represented Alaska Native corporations in a wide variety of commercial disputes and governance issues. Given Alaska’s economy, he regularly appears for clients in natural resources industries, ranging from property disputes, to tax and environmental litigation. Drawing on his experience in the Alaska United States Attorney’s Office, where he was chief of the civil division (four years) and chief of the criminal division (two years), much of his practice is in federal court.
Jim is active in the Alaska Bar and Alaska nonprofit community, He served for six years on the constitutionally created Alaska Judicial Council, which reviews sitting judges and screens judicial applicants, and represented Alaska’s Federal District Court for almost a decade on the Congressionally created Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Committee. In 2016, Jim was given the Alaska Bar Foundation’s annual Public Service Award, and in 2004 he was honored, with his wife, as Alaska’s Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
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