James C. Schwartz is co-leader of Tortorici Schwartz LLP's transportation practice and a nationally and internationally recognized advisor to the transportation industry. For more than two decades, he has counseled transportation companies, executives, entrepreneurs, and investors on complex legal, commercial, operational, and strategic matters affecting their businesses.
James's practice is distinguished by its breadth. He advises clients across virtually every major business function, including operations, human resources, marketing and sales, hospitality, loyalty programs, procurement, technology, software and content licensing, cybersecurity and data privacy, business process outsourcing, corporate governance, restructuring, and complex commercial transactions.
Clients rely on James not simply for legal advice, but for practical business judgment. His deep understanding of the transportation industry enables him to evaluate legal issues in the context in which executives actually encounter them - where regulatory, operational, financial, technological, and strategic considerations frequently intersect. He regularly advises clients on mission-critical initiatives, significant commercial negotiations, emerging technologies, new business models, strategic relationships, and other matters with substantial operational or financial consequences.
Having spent virtually his entire legal career working with the transportation industry, James has developed an uncommon understanding of how transportation companies operate, compete, grow, and manage risk. His ability to combine sophisticated legal analysis with commercial insight and industry fluency has made him a trusted strategic advisor to transportation companies ranging from emerging businesses to some of the industry's largest and most sophisticated enterprises.
James is also an entrepreneur and the co-founder of TripMarket, a B2B marketplace platform and mobile application designed to enhance profitability and operational efficiency for transportation companies by enabling the real-time sourcing of independent contractor labor and equipment at dynamic rates on either a pre-arranged or on-demand basis. His experience building a transportation technology business provides him with firsthand insight into the challenges facing founders, operators, and executives seeking to innovate and grow within highly regulated industries.
Before co-founding Tortorici Schwartz LLP, James served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Sotheby's International Realty in Los Angeles, where he had primary responsibility for legal, transactional, and strategic matters affecting the company's real estate brokerage and investment groups. Earlier in his career, he practiced commercial and real estate litigation at a boutique New York law firm.
James began his legal career as Assistant General Counsel at the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, where he prosecuted regulatory enforcement matters and contributed to the development of agency policies and procedures. That experience provided him with an early understanding of transportation regulation from the government perspective that continues to inform his work today.
Throughout his career, James has approached the practice of law with a simple philosophy - exceptional legal counsel should do more than identify risk. It should help clients make better decisions, solve complex business problems, capitalize on opportunities, and achieve their long-term strategic objectives.
- J.D., Fordham University School of Law
- B.A., The Johns Hopkins University
- New York
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
- United States Supreme Court
