James P. Hill Receives Business Law Section's 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award

• Publication year: 2022
• Author: Written by Paul J. Pascuzzi*

JAMES P. HILL RECEIVES BUSINESS LAW SECTION'S 2022 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Written by Paul J. Pascuzzi*

The Business Law Section is pleased to announce that James P. Hill ("Jim") has been selected to receive the Business Law Section's 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious award is given annually to a California lawyer "who over an extended period has made significant contributions to the Business Law Section or to business law generally in the State of California and who has achieved high status in the legal community." The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Jim at the California Lawyers Association Annual Meeting in San Diego. The Business Law Section ("BLS") presents the award annually at its Annual Meeting event, which this year will be a luncheon on September 16, 2022.

Jim joins an impressive list of California business attorneys and legal scholars who have received this award over the years. If you are looking for career inspiration, scroll over to the Business Law Section's website to review the articles on the prior award recipients. Jim's addition to the list is well deserved, given his illustrious career and especially his contributions to the Business Law Section, the California Lawyers Association, and the legal community at large. Jim took on the enormous responsibility of serving as the California Lawyers Association's inaugural Chair of the Board of Representatives, representing nearly 100,000 California lawyers. Like all our Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Jim has a life journey both interesting and remarkable. However, his key role at a crucial time in the life of the BLS and other Sections is what stands out and serves as the platform for Jim's selection as the recipient for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jim comes from family lineage in law and the military. His father, Roland Putman "Putt" Hill, was a Navy pilot, settling the family in the Navy town, Corpus Christi, Texas. This was after Putt's tour flying amphibious Navy aircraft during the Korean War, first based in San Francisco and then San Diego, California. Putt, a dashing young Navy lieutenant, and Jim's mother, Lucy, eloped before Lucy finished college to start their transient life together while Putt was in the Navy. This explains why Jim was born in Pensacola, Florida; his older sister, Claire, was born in Honolulu; his older brother, John, also a Navy pilot and then a captain for Delta Airlines, was born in Guam; and his younger sister, Alice, was born in Corpus Christi. The family took up residence there on the Texas Gulf Coast, where Lucy took on the role of a homemaker raising four kids. While doing so, Lucy obtained her English degree and teaching credentials commuting to Texas A&I (now Texas A&M) in Kingsville, Texas, which led to her teaching English at Jim's high school. Jim cites his mother's influence for instilling in him a love of the English language and writing, which motivated him through high school, college, law school, and beyond.

Jim's proclivity for the law also may have come from his mother's side of the family. Jim's great-grandfather, James B. Lewright, of San Antonio, was a prominent Texas trial

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lawyer, as was Jim's grandfather, Walter M. Lewright, who was a founding partner in one of the largest law firms in South Texas at the time. You will have to ask Jim to tell you the story about his grandfather being asked to leave UT Law School before graduation for gambling and "keeping women" when you see him (which, as the tale is told, led to Walter "reading the law" under the watchful eye of his father before embarking on his own trial lawyer career). Turns out Jim inherited a bit of that Texas rebel spirit.

Jim met his wife Gale at Richard King High School in Corpus Christi in the late 60s. Jim's leadership instincts started when he ran (under the banner of "Unified Students") for and was elected to serve as the student council president in his senior year. While in high school and notwithstanding his father's distinguished military service, Jim led anti-war marches and protests against the Vietnam war. His passion for the peace movement led other students in the very military town of Corpus Christi who were not so inclined to object, leading the administration there to bring Jim up on impeachment charges. After a "trial" before the full student body, Jim survived an impeachment vote and was not kicked off the student council. Notwithstanding what Jim recalls as a traumatic test to his beliefs, Jim's passivist commitment continued forward later that year as he registered as a "conscientious objector" (I-O) at the local draft board.

Jim attended undergraduate studies at the University of Texas, Austin, pursuing a Journalism degree. After about two years of college, Jim's number (18) came up in the draft lottery of the day. He applied for and was...