Portrait of James Dowden
Boston College teaching record

James Dowden

Adjunct Professor

Law

Official BC profile

Biography

James P. Dowden received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Boston College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his J.D. from Boston College Law School summa cum laude , was Articles Editor of the Boston College Law Review, and won the James W. Smith Award for the highest academic achievement in his class.  Following law school, Dowden clerked for the Hon. Anthony Scirca, now Chief Judge of the Third Circuit in Philadelphia Pennsylvania as well as Associate Justice Stephen Breyer during the OT 04-05 term.  Following his clerkships, Dowden was an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. He is currently a Partner in the Litigation Department at Ropes & Gray.

Official evaluation summary

4.58 / 5

Based on 112 aggregate responses from BC Avalanche/Blue evaluations.

Courses taught

Ratings are this instructor’s response-weighted averages from Boston College’s official course evaluations, on a scale of 1 to 5.

Data freshness

Profile and evaluation data last updated 2026-10-09. See Data Sources for provenance and limitations.