Mr. James Van Ness is an Associate General Counsel in the Office of the Deputy General Counsel (Environment & Installations) for the Department of Defense.  In this capacity, he is responsible for advising senior staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense concerning a wide variety of environmental issues, including environmental planning, compliance, and restoration; natural resources conservation; cultural resources preservation and management; and American Indian and Alaska Native policy matters.  Prior to his retirement from active duty, he served for 23 years as an active duty judge advocate in the United States Air Force.

Mr. Van Ness earned his B.S. in Distributed Studies from Iowa State University; his J.D. from the University of Iowa; and his LL.M. in Law and Marine Affairs from the University of Washington.  He is a member of the Iowa, U.S. Court of Military Appeals, and U.S. Supreme Court Bars.

Mr. Van Ness is currently a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches Federal Facilities Environmental Law.