James Rehwaldt is a passionate advocate for environmental causes seeking to bring justice by holding wrongdoers accountable.

James grew up in a rural seaside town in Northern California surrounded by old-growth redwood trees, so it is easy to understand their lifelong dedication to environmental issues. When James entered the workforce after obtaining their B.A. from St. Olaf College, they canvassed and fundraised for grassroots environmental nonprofit organizations before transitioning to customer outreach for renewable energy and carbon-offset programs through utility companies. Seeking more effective tools to implement the environmental changes they wanted to see, James earned their JD at Lewis & Clark Law School in 2022.

Following law school James served as a law clerk, first for the Multnomah County Circuit Court, and then for the Oregon Supreme Court. Observing firsthand the increasing difficulties in some of the standard ways that environmental law is practiced, James set their sights on a more straight-forward approach – taking the fight to corporate wrongdoers themselves – an approach that is compatible with the kind of environmental work done at Keller Rohrback: holding accountable those responsible for these problems in the first place.

James uses hard work and creative critical thinking to engage with the law as a tool for positive change as they initiate their practice at Keller Rohrback’s Portland office. Their work will include environmental matters, but James also sees unmet needs in consumer protection and health care that could benefit from the plaintiff-side public impact work being done by Keller Rohrback’s highly accomplished complex litigation group, and they look forward to bringing cases in those areas too.

Away from work, James professes their love of the outdoors, including:  downhill skiing (none of that cross-country nonsense), white-water kayaking, sailing, hiking, camping, and relaxing at hot springs.  James also enjoys experimenting in the kitchen – exploring the culinary world in their free time – and plays D&D with a group of friends.