![[logo] US EPA](http://web.archive.org/web/20060923024259im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
A. James Barnes
Biography
[EPA press release - October 7, 1983]
The U.S. Senate today confirmed the appointment of A. James Barnes as Assistant Administrator (General Counsel) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Barnes will be chief legal advisor to EPA Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus and the agency. Prior to his current appointment, he served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"As EPA's principal legal officer with the responsibility for interpreting statutes, developing standards and regulations, drafting legislation, and representing the agency in defensive litigation," Ruckelshaus said, "the agency couldn't have found anyone better qualified than Jim."
Barnes served as a special assistant to Ruckelshaus from 1970 to 1973 during the Administrator's first tour as head of EPA. Barnes later served as an assistant when Ruckelshaus was the U.S. Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice. He was campaign manager for Governor William G. Milliken of Michigan in 1974. From 1975 to 1981, Barnes was a partner in the Washington law firm of Beveridge, Fairbanks & Diamond, as well as adjunct professor in business administration at Georgetown University. Barnes graduated from Michigan State University in 1964 and from Harvard Law School in 1967.
Barnes is a native of Flint, Mich., where he graduated from Flint Southwestern High School in 1960. His father, Albert J. Barnes, currently resides at 973 Owen Drive in Fenton.