Jim Rosenblatt

Jim Rosenblatt

Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law, Mississippi College School of Law

as of 4/10/2026

Jim Rosenblatt was born in Natchez, Mississippi and raised on a farm in rural Wilkinson County near the Mississippi River by caring parents who valued education.  His early schooling was in Woodville, Mississippi where he was active in 4-H, athletics, and student government.

His college work was at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee with studies in philosophy and mathematics.  He was graduated cum laude, selected for Omicron Delta Kappa, and served as president of his senior class.

His law studies were at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where he was active on Moot Court, served as a research assistant, and was commissioned in the Army following his completion of the ROTC program.

He entered service with The Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) following his admission to the New York Bar and was graduated with honors from the JAG Basic Course at Charlottesville, Virginia.  Following an assignment at Fort Monroe, Virginia he was graduated with honors from the JAG Advanced Course at Charlottesville, Virginia and remained at The Judge Advocate General’s School to teach government contracts, fiscal law, and communications at the post-graduate level.  Next was an assignment at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. with personnel duties.

Subsequent leadership assignments included Deputy Staff Judge Advocate (25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii), Staff Judge Advocate (32nd Army Air Defense Command, Darmstadt, Germany), Staff Judge Advocate (Engineer Center, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri), Commander (U.S. Army Claims Service, Fort Meade, Maryland), and Staff Judge Advocate (U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia).  His military schooling included the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.  Retired from active duty in 2003 as a Colonel with 30 plus years of service, he holds the Distinguished Service Medal and three awards of the Legion of Merit. 

He is a member of the bar in the states of Missouri (inactive) and New York (inactive) and with limited admission in Mississippi for pro bono work; has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, military courts, and the state courts of Missouri and New York; and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Capital Area Bar Association, the Rankin County Bar Association, the Madison County Bar Association, the Mississippi Bar Foundation, and is a lifetime member of the American Board of Trial Advocates Foundation.  He served on the Access to Justice Commission, was a director in the Jackson Rotary Club, served as Treasurer of Bookfriends (University Press) and is the past-president of the Mississippi chapter of the Federal Bar Association and the Charles Clark Inn of Court.  He is a two-time recipient of the Mississippi Chief Justice’s Award and received the AALS Professor Deborah Rhode award for public service. 

He assumed the duties as Dean of the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi in August 2003 and became the Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law in August 2014 where he offered courses in Government Contracts, International Law (Korea), and Military Law.  He lives in Ridgeland, Mississippi with his wife Lauren VanBuskirk Rosenblatt, a former French teacher.  The Rosenblatts have four sons—Frank (a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel in Madison, MS and on the faculty at MC Law), John (Annapolis, MD), Drew (Madison, MS), and Paul (Madison, MS and a 2012 graduate of MC Law in private practice with Kirkland Ellis).  All four sons are Eagle Scouts.

Family interests include traveling, gardening, and walking.  Jim and Lauren are members of Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson where he was the former Board Chair of the Child Development Center and serves on the usher team.  He is the President of the Greenwood Cemetery Association—a historic cemetery in downtown Jackson.                                                                                                                                                          

Publications:

“Lessons Learned by a New Dean” 36 Univ of Toledo Law Review 151 (Fall 2004)

“Law School Faculty as Mentors” The Bencher (American Inns of Court) p 10, (Jan/Feb 2006)

"Advancing Professionalism During Law School" The Mississippi Lawyer, Jul/Aug/Sep 2007

“The Tenure of a Law School Dean:  It’s Not How Long You Make It—It’s How You Make It Long” 42 Univ of Toledo Law Review 667 (Spring 2011)

“Internet Sales a Taxing Issue” The ClarionLedger, Jackson, Mississippi (July 8, 2012)

“Taxing Internet Sales” Mississippi Business Journal, Jackson, Mississippi (March 15, 2013)

“Changing Flag Would Be Welcomed by Many,” The ClarionLedger, Jackson, Mississippi (August 15, 2015)

“Chip Off the Old Block” 46 Univ of Toledo Law Review 371 (Winter 2015)

“A Gentle Socrates:  Judge Leslie Southwick” 37 Miss. C.L. Rev. 7 (2018)

“Judicial Trailblazer” 39 Miss.C.L.Rev. 363 (2021) 

“A Man for All Seasons—Justice Fred Banks” 40 Miss.C.L.Rev. 355 (2022)

“Fifth Circuit and Mississippi Law:  Asked and Answered (Or Not)” 43 Miss C.L. Rev. 207 (2025)