James Courser

J.D. candidate at Berkeley Law. U.S. Army veteran.

James Courser, J.D. candidate at UC Berkeley School of Law

A bit about me.

Hi! My name is James and I’m a J.D. candidate at Berkeley Law. Before law school, I served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer and Paralegal Specialist in the JAG Corps. Outside of class, I’m an associate editor for the Ecology Law Quarterly, write for the Berkeley Business Law Journal blog, co-lead Military and Veterans at Berkeley Law, and volunteer with Swords to Plowshares.

Where I studied.

UC Berkeley School of Law

2024 – 2027

J.D. Candidate

Berkeley, California

Honors

Berkeley Law Dean’s Fellowship Jurisprudence Award: Venture Capital Deal Bootcamp U.S. Military Promise Program

Activities

Ecology Law Quarterly — Associate Editor & Mentor Berkeley Business Law Journal — Blog Writer & Mentor Military & Veterans at Berkeley Law — Co-Leader La Alianza

California State University, San Marcos

2020 – 2024

B.S., summa cum laude, Business Administration – Finance

San Marcos, California

Honors

Summa Cum Laude Dean’s List (all semesters)

Activities

Associated Students Inc. — Veterans Student Representative CoBA Peer Mentor Program — Mentor CSUSM Finance Society — Treasurer & Director of Operations

Some things I’ve written.

I write for The Network, the blog run by the Berkeley Business Law Journal. Mostly about what’s happening at the intersection of regulation and business.

Ecology Law Quarterly

Associate Editor & Mentor

Editing and cite-checking for Berkeley’s environmental law journal.

Service & leadership.

Military Police Corps — E-4 Specialist

Deployed for 13 months to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, Romania. Automated and digitized a NATO-compliant Base Access Plan in Excel, addressing security, fraud, and terrorism risks and enhancing installation security protocols for 1,000+ personnel.

DVIDS feature: Joint U.S.–Canadian MP Range, Romania

JAG Corps — E-5 Sergeant

Supervised legal matters for 10 independent companies while personally leading a 30-member team as the Platoon Sergeant.

Decorations

Army Commendation Medal Good Conduct Medal National Defense Service Medal GWOT Expeditionary Medal GWOT Service Medal Overseas Service Ribbon Armed Forces Reserve Medal w/ M Device Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal

Swords to Plowshares — L.O.V.E.

Intake Volunteer and Veteran Advocate since August 2024. Providing pro bono legal assistance through L.O.V.E. to disadvantaged veterans seeking VA benefits or discharge upgrades.

Veterans Student Representative

In my senior year at California State University, I represented the military-affiliated student body on university committees and mentored fellow veterans in collaboration with ASI.

When I’m not going through casebooks, I’m usually reading for fun. Here are some of the books that have stuck with me.

Dune
Speaker for the Dead
2001
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Brave New World
Cosmos
The Selfish Gene
Catcher in the Rye

Let’s connect.

Feel free to reach out — happy to talk about anything.