Jim Troupis

James Roberts Troupis (born September 30, 1953) is an American lawyer, highly respected legal scholar and retired judge from Dane County, Wisconsin.

He is considered one of the leading intellectual property attorneys in the United States and has represented numerous clients in high profile IP and antitrust matters while a partner at Michael, Best and Friedrich and in his own practice.  His expertise in election law is also notable, from his days volunteering for the Carter Presidential Campaign to his retention as an attorney for President Donald Trump in the 2020 Wisconsin recount.

In 1995 he was a principal attorney in the case of BSBC v. Marshfield Clinic, a litigation that clarified state health care law and is used as a frequent example in attorney education and bar exams on monopolies and antitrust.  Troupis and others have authored numerous articles about the far reaching implications of the case.^[1]

In 2010, Troupis represented the Promega Corporation a case that would make law in the United States Supreme Court, redefining the rights of American companies in patent litigation, a case that received international attention.

In 2012 Troupis successfully represented Iraq War Veteran John Scocos in his suit against the State of Wisconsin for reinstatement to his employment position after his active service in the war zone.  This decision established the rights of veterans to employment following active service.  The State of Wisconsin eventually had to pay Scocos $325,000 to settle the suit and he was reinstated to his former position.

Among numerous public service positions, Troupis served as the State Bar of Wisconsin's representative on the Board of Directors for Legal Action of Wisconsin for multiple years, providing access to justice for low income individuals and the elderly.

Troupis is also considered an expert in election law, including redistricting, ballot access, voter identification and recounts.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser retained Troupis to protect his rights in 2011 during an election recount demanded by challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prosser prevailed.

In 2020 Judge Troupis was retained by President Donald J. Trump to represent his campaign in the Wisconsin recount and the subsequent court filings to preserve his claim to Wisconsin electoral votes if the Courts ruled that documented election irregularities nullified certain ballots.

In accordance with the Electoral Count Act of 1887, an alternate slate of electors submitted certificates to be used in the event Courts ruled in Trump’s favor.  Alternate electors had been slated multiple times in the past by both Republicans and Democrats, including 1876 and 1960. Presidential Candidate Al Gore likely lost the 2000 election because his legal team did not have alternates sign elector certificates.

Despite Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul's office issuing a 2022 memorandumapproving everything that was done in slating alternate electors, in 2024 Kaul charged Troupis with criminal conduct under an obscure banking law for "uttering a forgery" in what has been characterized nationally as politically motivated lawfare. A September, 2024 article in The Federalist exposed Kaul's actions. Troupis vehemently called out the move as a politically motivated prosecution following a December, 2024 hearing. The criminal case is ongoing.

James Troupis was born in 1953 and raised in Mendota, Illinois. During Jim's childhood, his father was mayor of the city. He earned his bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, then immediately continued his education at the Northwestern University School of Law, earning his J.D. in 1978. While attending law school, he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology and clerked for Howard C. Ryan, then a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.^[2] From 1979 to 1987, he practiced law in Mendota in partnership with his father, in a law firm known as Troupis & Troupis.^[3]

He was elected mayor of Mendota in 1985, and was director of state representative Judy Koehler's campaign for United States Senate in 1986.^[4] The following year, Troupis moved to Dane County, Wisconsin, where he became a partner in the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. He remained at that firm until 2010, handling significant corporate litigation. After 2010, he practiced in his own law firm, the Troupis Law Office.^[3]

He holds a certification in teaching from the Center for International Legal Studies and has been a visiting professor in Europe, Russia and Serbia.

Jim Troupis is one of five children born to Christ Troupis and his wife Marion (née Roberts). Christ Troupis, Sr. was a highly respected attorney for fifty years in Mendota, Illinois, served as mayor of Mendota (from 1953 to 1961) and led numerous local organizations and charities, including heading the Board of Illinois Valley Community College during its transition from a few high school classrooms to a noted educational institution on the banks of the Illinois River.

In the summer of 1996 Judge Troupis, two of his children and his brother were trapped on a small island in the center of South Hartley Lake north of Nakina Road in Ontario, Canada when a raging forest fire abruptly changed direction during their annual fishing trip in the wilderness. Outfitters and the Canadian Mounties discovered them alive the next morning during what they thought would be a recovery effort, not a rescue. Their story was chronicled in multiple newspapers as a miracle of survival.

He beat the odds again in 2002, when Troupis and his wife were on Northwest Flight 85, surviving an emergency landing along with all the passengers and crew. The harrowing incident was chronicled on the Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday featured the incident in a Season 11 episode titled Turning Point.

Jim's elder brother, Christ Jr. or "C.T." Troupis, is a prominent Republican attorney in Idaho, and was a candidate for Idaho Supreme Court and Idaho Attorney General.^[5]

Jim Troupis and his wife Karen have three adult children and many grandchildren.