Jim Hartnett

Jim Hartnett is a partner in the Redwood City law firm of Hartnett, Smith & Paetkau, located in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Former Redwood City mayor and former four-term council member, Mr. Hartnett is the past chairman of the San Mateo County Transit District Board of Directors, CalTrain Joint Powers Board of Directors (San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties), Dumbarton Rail Policy Committee (Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties) and the City/County Association of Governments (San Mateo County).

Mr. Hartnett has substantial international experience, having worked for a law firm in Japan; held civic positions, including past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Western Japan Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce; and studied at Sophia University International Division and Graduate School in Tokyo. He was awarded the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan President’s Leadership Award for outstanding service by Mike Mansfield, U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Honorary President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

For more than two decades, Mr. Hartnett has moderated and participated on seminar panels on a wide variety of civic issues, including shared municipal services, pension reform, international economic development and the dynamics of Silicon Valley.

A two-time Chair of the Board of the Redwood City-San Mateo Chamber of Commerce (the third largest in the Bay Area), Mr. Hartnett was named its person of the year in 2001. He also was awarded the distinction of “Friend of the Schools” by the Redwood City Elementary School District Board of Trustees. He is a long-time supporter of Project Read and youth sports, as well as a former Big League baseball manager (16- to 18-year-olds), a decade-long member of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Inmate Welfare Committee and president of the Board of Directors of Fresh Takes, Inc., a startup non-profit organization providing digital arts training to youth.

A graduate of Santa Clara University Law School, Mr. Hartnett has practiced law since 1978, focusing on business and real estate law, dispute resolution and litigation. He has achieved the highest rating possible for professional and ethical excellence by the Martindale-Hubble Legal Directory. He served in the U. S. Navy (Reserves), Naval Security Group, including active duty 1970-72 in Florida and Japan. Appointed by the Senate Rules Committee.