As senior executive vice president and general counsel, James D. Ellis is responsible for all legal matters of AT&T Inc.
Ellis began his Bell System career in 1972 as an attorney for AT&T Long Lines in Kansas City, Mo. He served as an attorney for Long Lines and for the AT&T General Departments in New York from 1974 to 1979.
He became general attorney for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (SWBT) in San Antonio in 1979, a position he held until being appointed vice president and general counsel for AT&T's centralized services organization in Basking Ridge, N.J., in 1983. He was named vice president and general counsel at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) in January 1984.
In August 1984, Ellis transferred back to SWBT as vice president and general counsel for the Texas Division in Dallas. He moved to St. Louis as SWBT's vice president, general counsel and secretary in 1986. In 1988, he was appointed senior vice president and general counsel for SBC. He assumed his current position in March 1989.
A native of Ottumwa, Iowa, Ellis graduated from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1968. |