James P. Ruggeri
MANAGING PARTNER
Washington, D.C.
jruggeri@ruggerilaw.com / 202-469-7752
Jim Ruggeri is the Managing Partner of Ruggeri Parks Weinberg LLP.
Jim’s career spans more than three decades. Following his federal court clerkship, Jim worked at Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) for nearly 20 years, many of those as an equity partner. Jim left Hogan & Hartson in 2010 to open the DC office of a New England firm. Jim led that office for the next 11 years before opening, with his partners, Ruggeri Parks Weinberg LLP.
Jim has been at the intersection of insurance, bankruptcy and mass torts for 30 years, beginning with Celotex, the nation’s first Section 524(g) bankruptcy. Throughout the years, Jim has been lead counsel for insurance clients in many of the country’s most significant insurance coverage and bankruptcy matters. Jim’s versatility includes lead trial and appellate work, and lead settlement negotiator, devising creative solutions to resolve his clients’ most complex problems. Jim has successfully litigated cases in state and trial courts across the country and argued appeals in numerous state courts, including California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, and numerous federal courts, including the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits.
Clients rely on Jim’s leadership and his aggressive but practical litigation approach. Jim’s litigation teams intentionally are lean, delivering results at a fair price. Clients have described Jim as “the complete package” and one who “understands how to find leverage points so that we can get the best deal possible.” Opposing counsel have called Jim “a worthy opponent” who “fights hard for his clients. . . . A terrific lawyer who really knows his stuff.” Jim is currently lead counsel in several high-profile mass tort actions and bankruptcies and ancillary actions, representing major insurers in their highest-stakes disputes. He is recognized as “an icon in insurance coverage litigation,” “saavy” and “at the very top of the pyramid in the universe of complex insurance matters.”
A Fellow in the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel, Jim has been ranked by Chambers USA in Insurance: Insurer in Washington, DC, since 2004, and in Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Insurer (Nationwide) since 2010. Jim has also been AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubble since 2003. Jim has been selected to Washington D.C. Super Lawyers® since 2012, and The Best Lawyers In America®: Insurance Law since 2013. In 2024, he was added to the Top 100 List of Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers®.
Prior to founding Ruggeri Parks Weinberg LLP in 2022, Jim practiced at Hogan & Hartson LLP from 1991-2010, opening the DC office of a New England law firm in 2010. He also served as law clerk to the Honorable Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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Vanderbilt University School of Law, J.D., 1990
Colgate University, B.A., 1987
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District of Columbia
New York
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U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
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Fellow, American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America®: Insurance Law (2013-2024)
Listed in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers: Insurance: Insurer (District of Columbia) (2004-2023) and Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Insurer (Nationwide) (2010-2023)
Listed as a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer® (2012-2024); Ranked in Top 100: 2024 Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers Top List
AV Preeminent® Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
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American Bar Association
D.C. Bar Association
New York Bar Association