Board of Directors
James Ho
James HoChicago 1999James C. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He has over a decade of government experience, most recently as Solicitor General of Texas, the State’s chief appellate and Supreme Court litigator.
An experienced appellate, business, and constitutional litigator, James has argued and won cases in diverse areas of law in courts across the country. He has the highest win rate in the U.S. Supreme Court of any Texas solicitor general, and a 22-2 record as lead appellate or trial counsel in other federal and state courts.
James also counsels clients on constitutional issues and legal strategy in other adversarial contexts, including proposed legislation, government investigations, and arbitrations. A noted constitutional expert, he has testified before both Congress and the Texas Legislature, and his work has been cited by the Texas Supreme Court and at every level of the federal judiciary.
As Solicitor General of Texas, James litigated and counseled state officials on the most difficult legal issues facing Texas. Appointed by Attorney General Greg Abbott, he is the first Asian American to serve as the State’s chief appellate lawyer, and the first state solicitor general in the nation to be invited by the U.S. Supreme Court to express the views of a state. He also received two Supreme Court Best Brief Awards from the National Association of Attorneys General.
James has also served in all three branches of the federal government. On Capitol Hill, he served as chief counsel to Senator John Cornyn and to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration. At the Justice Department, he was the second highest political appointee at the Civil Rights Division. He also worked at the Office of Legal Counsel, advising White House and other senior officials on constitutional and other complex legal issues. In addition, he served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before law school, he was a legislative aide to California State Senator Quentin Kopp.
His record of public service also includes appointments to numerous boards and commissions. James is actively involved in judicial appointments as a member of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee established by U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, and the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas. He has also served on the Continuity of Government Commission as well as the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
James has taught U.S. Supreme Court Litigation as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He is also a frequent commentator on legal issues and an active member of numerous national and statewide organizations.
Media accounts have described James as “one of the nation’s most promising lawyers” (National Law Journal, 2008), one of the state’s “big guns” (Texas Tribune, 2010) and “top appellate lawyer[s]” (Austin American-Statesman, 2010), a “rising star” in “appellate and constitutional law” (Texas Monthly, 2008), and a “close student of the [U.S. Supreme] Court” (National Law Journal, 2010). He has also been named one of 25 “Extraordinary Minorities in Texas Law” (Texas Lawyer, 2009), one of the nation’s “Best Lawyers under 40” (National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 2006), and one of the best 35 Congressional aides under 35 (The Hill, 2005), and has received numerous awards for his pro bono and public service. One former client stated in a press release that “Jim Ho’s exceptional oral argument and briefing delivered a home run victory,” while another called him “the most diligent person I’ve ever worked with,” and a former colleague noted his “brilliant mind,” adding that “there are not a lot of people who are on that level of both energy and intellect” (Texas Super Lawyers, 2008).
James is an active member of the Asian American community. He is co-chair of the Judiciary Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and a recipient of the Association’s Presidential Award, the Justice David Wellington Chew Award, and awards from the Dallas Asian American Bar Association, the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership for his community leadership.
Taiwanese by birth and Texan by marriage, Mr. Ho graduated from Stanford University with honors and a B.A. in Public Policy. He was a Tony Patiño Fellow while studying at the University of Chicago Law School, graduating with high honors.