Background

Jim was raised on a beef cattle farm in Harford County. His father was a veterinarian and his mother an artist and antiques dealer. Rutledge's mother comes from coalminers that immigrated in the 1800s. His father comes from farmers who first came to Maryland in the 1600s.

Jim attended North Harford High School (1979) before graduating with his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia (1983), Magna Cum Laude. While at the University of Georgia, Rutledge was admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was the Captain of the University's club lacrosse team.

Jim obtained his law degree from the University of Maryland in 1986 With Honors, where he represented the poor and disenfranchised of Baltimore, Co-Chaired the Moot Court Board, and served as a Special Master of the Orphans' Court of Baltimore City.

Jim's diverse legal career has taken him to the state and federal courts of Maryland and Georgia, and has included substantial work on constitutional law and civil rights issues, criminal law, health care law, and administrative law, business law, work with the elderly and disabled, and agricultural preservation and conservation programs.

Jim has done extensive volunteer work, including founding a Habitat for Humanity Chapter and serving as its charter President, working for the sight and hearing impaired in the Jarrettsville Lions Club where he served as President, and teaching character to boys and young men as a youth lacrosse coach for many years.

Practice Concentration

Estate Planning and Administration, Wills, Trusts, Gift and Estate Tax Planning, Small Business Law, Real Estate, and Agricultural Preservation Law.

Addtional Practice Experience

Business Litigation

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP, Baltimore, MD

Civil Rights Litigation, Criminal Defense, and Small Business Law
James B. Rutledge, III, Attorney at Law, Statesboro, GA

Felony and Juvenile Prosecution, Lead Trial Attorney

District Attorney's Office, Statesboro, GA Assistant District Attorney

Civil Litigation, Criminal Defense, Farm and Small Business Law

Edenfield, Stone & Cox, Statesboro, GA

Complex Health Care Litigation

King & Spalding, Atlanta, GA

Insurance Defense and Business Litigation

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP, Baltimore, MD

Admitted

Court of Appeals of Maryland

Supreme Court of Georgia

United States District Court, Maryland     

Education

University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., with honors

Order of the Coif – top 10%

Moot Court Board, C-Chairperson

American Jurisprudence Award for work in Estate Planning

University of Georgia, B.A., magna cum laude

Phi Beta Kappa

Captain of Lacrosse Team, University of Georgia, ’82-‘83

Professional & Community

Habitat for Humanity

Chapter Founder & Past President

Harford County Bar Association

Bench-Bar Liaison Committee

Lions Club, Jarrettsville

Past President

Maryland Bar Association

Section on Estates & Trusts

United States Senate – Candidate 2010