James J. Ross, Attorney

James J. Ross, a partner in the firm, focuses on plaintiff’s personal injury claims and criminal defense cases. He has practiced and tried cases in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Venango and Mercer Counties, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ross has also tried numerous cases in Federal District Court in both Pittsburgh and Erie and in the United States District Court for the Central District of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Three years prior to joining Bowers, Ross & Fawcett in 1991, Mr. Ross was Chief of the Erie Division of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. While in Erie, Attorney Ross was responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil cases involving the United States in a seven-county area of Northwest Pennsylvania.

From 1984 through 1987 Mr. Ross served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, where he prosecuted organized crime and narcotics cases in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ross earned his Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. During his law school career, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Ohio Northern University Law Review and graduated in the top ten percent of his law school class. After law school he served as a Law Clerk in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to United States District Judge Alan N. Bloch from 1982 through 1984.

After graduating from Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio in 1976, Mr. Ross went on to earn a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tennessee in 1977. During his Masters Program, he served as a graduate teaching assistant.

Mr. Ross has been extensively involved in the activities of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, serving as a member of the Civil Justice Advisory Group to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which advised the Court on the efficient and cost-effective management of civil litigation. He was also appointed by the United States District Court to the Merit Selection Committee to review candidates and to recommend finalists to the Court for the position of United States Magistrate Judge.

Active in numerous civic and legal entities, Jim Ross has served on the Board of Directors for the Beaver County YMCA, the Beaver Valley Country Club, One-to-One Citizen Advocacy (serving as President of that Board) and the Erie, Pennsylvania Special Olympics.

Attorney Ross served as an Adjunct Professor at Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania in the fall of 1990 and has been a speaker at numerous seminars on both civil and criminal litigation over the last fifteen (15) years. He has been extensively involved in the Beaver County Bar Association since 1991 and presently chairs the Civil Rules and Charitable Giving Committees.

James J. Ross has received professional recognition by attaining an “AV” rating through the National Lawyers Rating Service of Martindale Hubbell.

Mr. Ross was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania on June 4, 1954. He is married and the father of two children.