HARRISBURG (May 8, 2017) — Beaver County Court of Common Pleas Judge James J. Ross will begin a two-year term as chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates, the association's policy-making body, at the conclusion of the PBA Annual Meeting, May 12, in Pittsburgh.
Active in the organized bar for many years, Judge Ross is currently co-vice chair of the PBA Judicial Administration Committee and recently served a three-year term on the PBA Board of Governors as the unit county governor representing county bar associations.
Judge Ross is a past president of the Beaver County Bar Association and has chaired the association’s Civil Rules and Charitable Giving committees. In 2008, he received the Judge James E. Rowley Service Award for outstanding commitment and dedication to the Beaver County Bar Association and to the legal profession.
Judge Ross served as a member of the Board of Governors for the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice.
Judge Ross was a member of the Civil Justice Advisory Group to the U.S. 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 U.S. District Court to the Merit Selection Committee to review candidates and to recommend finalists to the Court for the position of U.S. Magistrate Judge.
In November 2013, Judge Ross was elected to a 10-year term as a Beaver County Court of Common Pleas judge.
From 1991 to 2013, Judge Ross was a partner in the law firm of Bowers, Ross & Fawcett and litigated plaintiffs’ personal injury claims and criminal defense cases.
Following law school graduation, Judge Ross was a law clerk in the U.S. Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to Judge Alan N. Bloch from 1982 to 1984.
From 1984 to 1987, Judge Ross served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania prosecuting organized crime and narcotics cases in Pittsburgh, and from 1988 to 1991, he served as chief of the Western District’s Erie Division.
Active in numerous civic and legal entities, he served on the Beaver County YMCA Endowment Committee and on the boards of directors for the Beaver County YMCA and Erie Special Olympics. He also served as president of One-to-One Citizen Advocacy.
Judge Ross earned an undergraduate degree from Baldwin Wallace College, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a juris doctor from Ohio Northern University. During his law school career, he served as editor-in-chief of the law school’s law review.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 27,000 lawyers who are members of the association.