James Goldschmidt helps clients litigate and win complex disputes by crafting clear, persuasive legal briefs and arguments. With a core focus on energy and utility law and environmental litigation, James also advises more generally on appellate matters and critical motions practice.
James chairs Quarles' national Appellate Practice Group and is the immediate past chair of the State Bar of Wisconsin Appellate Practice Section. He also serves on the Board of Governors for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association.
James has won numerous cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, including several cases of statewide interest.
He's also advised on complex civil, regulatory and tax appeals, with a focus on reducing difficult issues to understandable concepts for decision makers. In the past decade alone, James has fully briefed over 40 appeals in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida and the Seventh, Ninth and Federal Circuits, briefed and argued cases before the Illinois Appellate Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and argued three times before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In addition to his appellate practice, James advises public utility clients on a wide variety of matters, from cases before the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to hydroelectric permit disputes before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to utility disputes with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). He also advises and defends potentially responsible parties in CERCLA Superfund litigation.
James graduated from Harvard Law School and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College.
