James B. Rutledge, III was raised on a beef cattle farm in Harford County. His father was a veterinarian and his mother an artist and antiques dealer. Rutledge's mother comes from coalminers that immigrated in the 1800s. His father comes from farmers who first came to Maryland in the 1600s.
Rutledge attended North Harford High School (1979) before graduating with his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia (1983), Magna Cum Laude. While at the University of Georgia, Rutledge was admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was the Captain of the University's club lacrosse team. Rutledge obtained his law degree from the University of Maryland in 1986 With Honors, where he represented the poor and disenfranchised of Baltimore, Co-Chaired the Moot Court Board, and served as a Special Master of the Orphans' Court of Baltimore City.
Rutledge's diverse legal career has taken him to the state and federal courts of Maryland and Georgia and has included substantial work on constitutional law and civil rights issues, criminal law, health care law, and administrative law, business law, work with the elderly and disabled, and agricultural preservation and conservation programs.
Rutledge has done extensive volunteer work including founding a Habitat for Humanity Chapter and serving as its charter President, working for the sight and hearing impaired in the Jarrettsville Lions Club where he served as President, and teaching character to boys and young men as a youth lacrosse coach for many years.
Rutledge, and his wife Kim, have been married for 25 years with two children. |
