Member Spotlight: Jim Ruggeri Demonstrates Power of Preparation in the Courtroom
May 26, 2021
When James “Jim” Ruggeri was 17 years old, everyone just assumed he would become a lawyer. His mother always knew he would end up as one, but people he interacted with outside of family seemed to have predicted it as well.
“A few years ago, in connection with a high school reunion, when [I went] back and took a look at what people wrote about me, there were people who wrote about my becoming a lawyer,” says Ruggeri.
An early lover of politics, he began to create his future by using the power of words, hard work, and belief in himself. It was during a coveted college internship in Washington, D.C., that Ruggeri, who was born and raised in upstate New York, fell in love with the vibe of the city and vowed to return to practice law.
After graduating from Colgate University and Vanderbilt University Law School, and then completing a federal clerkship, Ruggeri eventually made his way back to the District and made his dream of practicing law here a reality.
Through the years Ruggeri has built a reputation as a legal gladiator. He began his career at Hogan & Hartson LLP, where he became a partner and spent his first 20 years of private practice. Believing there were more legal vistas to explore, he departed Hogan in 2010 in search of new challenges. Currently, Ruggeri is co-managing partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP where he also chairs the firm’s insurance and reinsurance group. Ruggeri’s main practice area consists of business litigation, specifically insurance coverage.
In the fast-paced world of state and federal litigation, Ruggeri says the words of wisdom and training he received from his former mentor and friend, Bill Bowman, have kept him grounded in his three decades of legal practice. “What I learned from Bill is that preparation is everything. Because if you prepare you can go into the courtroom confident that you can handle anything that comes up,” Ruggeri says. “I have modeled my career after his in terms of outworking people on the other side and making sure I am always prepared.”
Those values enabled him to score his first legal win decades ago against a cab company, a victory that helped pave his future as a worthy adversary in many courtroom battles yet to come.
Consistently named a Washington Super Lawyer since 2012 and ranked by Chambers USA in insurance since 2004, Ruggeri has assumed his most coveted role yet, that of mentor. “I absolutely consider myself a mentor. More importantly, I hope the people who work with me consider me a mentor. I do my best to lead by example both personally and professionally in all aspects of my life,” says Ruggeri, an American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel Fellow. Despite his accomplishments, Ruggeri says he makes sure he’s readily available to colleagues to lend a hand when needed, especially during the pandemic.
Ruggeri also encourages other attorneys to believe in themselves and, above all, to dive in and take full advantage of opportunities to experience litigation for themselves. “The U.S. District Court judge for whom I clerked in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Honorable Rebecca Beach Smith, encouraged me to take advantage of every opportunity offered to me, no matter how small, to get on my feet, including status conferences. Judge Smith said it would pay dividends, and it has,” says Ruggeri.
Ruggeri says he tries to pass on the same advice to the people he works with while showing them the ropes and sharing lessons learned from his own successes and professional bumps in his legal journey. “Every opportunity you have to speak in front of people, do it! It will make you that much more comfortable.”
June S. Phillips is a D.C. Bar member and founder of TrueBliss Television.
