Attorneys general in 43 states and the District of Columbia are elected statewide on a partisan basis. All 13 American colonies had an Attorney General and today all 50 States and the District of Columbia have opted to provide legal services through an Office of State Attorney General.Įach office possesses broad jurisdiction and to varying degrees is independent from the executive and the legislative branches of state government. The roots of the Office of State Attorney General run deep in American jurisprudence. He has five children and eight grandchildren. Tierney is married to author Elizabeth Strout. Tierney has instructed newly elected state Attorneys General on the effective performance of their office and he continues to consult for incumbent attorneys general and their staffs on a wide variety of matters. Tierney has also served as a Special Prosecutor in Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Vermont and, on behalf of NAAG, authored an analysis of the operations of state grand jury practice throughout the United States. Tierney played an active role in the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). During his ten years as Attorney General of Maine, Mr. Tierney served as the Attorney General of Maine from 1980 until 1990.

įor thirteen years Tierney was the Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School and he has also taught courses at Yale Law School, Boston College Law School, Northeastern Law School and the University of Maine School of Law.

Tierney is the former Attorney General of Maine and a Lecturer at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on the role of state attorneys general while directing the Harvard Attorney General clinic.

Jim tierney elizabeth strout