Jim Ross

Cover Story

The verdict is in Attorney/restaurateur Jim Ross has become one of Arlington’s treasures by treasuring those around him

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t is a Tuesday, closing in on noon, and local attorney Jim Ross is about to put a mental check beside the final morning “to do” list item and head to lunch. He won’t have far to go.

In fact, the office of The Jim Ross Law Group is located at 2221 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 800. He will enjoy lunch at Mercury Chop House, located at 2221 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 910. Yes, he’s about to take a one-floor elevator ride. He takes it practically every day.

And it’s the ride of his life.

You see, Ross isn’t just an award-winning lawyer these days. He’s also co-owner of the new restaurant that provides arguably some of the better cuisine in – and indisputably the best view of – Arlington.

When Mercury Chop House welcomed guests for the first time last November, the buzz surrounding the grand opening was such that the inaugural gathering of about 650 people threatened fire code laws. That might have been a problem were it not for the fact

Photo: Richard Greene

Last November, co-owners Jim Ross and Zack Moutaouakil opened Mercury Chop House, an upscale restaurant that serves mouth-watering cuisine and that provides the most picturesque view of the city of Arlington.

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ARLINGTON TODAY • May 2018 • arlingtontoday.com

that Arlington Fire Department officials were party to the party.

Likewise, police department members. And civic leaders. And fellow attorneys. And friends. Jim Ross has a lot of friends.

“That’s why [fellow co-owner] Zack Moutaouakil asked me to be a partner with the restaurant,” he says with a laugh. “I know a lot of people.”

Most of them will tell you how loyal Ross is. Others will cite the fact that he is generous with his time and money. Still others will share how the best lawyer/restaurateur in town quietly did something behind the scenes of a civic endeavor that made it better.

Ross will simply say it’s ironic he’s a lawyer and owner of a fine dining establishment. He never set out to be either.

In the beginning, he was a Marine, shortly after he left his high school in Detroit, Mich. When he got out of the service in 1983, “nobody was working in Detroit,” he says. So he accepted the invitation of an aunt in Texas, who proclaimed, “everybody is working in Texas.”

“I wanted to be a cop,” Ross says. So he became a cop in Arlington. “I went to the academy with T. [Theron] Bowman, who would later become the police chief.”

Ross says he got to work on all the “fun” stuff, even early on. He was on the city’s first SWAT team. He did Special Ops, working in hostage situations and drug raids. A martial arts fanatic, he taught fellow officers self-defense and eventually parlayed his teaching skills into a proposal that led to the creation of the Arlington Police Academy.

“I told them we’re losing money sending our people elsewhere to learn how to do this; let’s train all our people ourselves,” he says.

In the late 1980s, the academy was born.

Ross’ “can do” spirit manifested in many productive ways for the force. Perhaps the most interesting occurred when he joined the Vice/Narcotics unit and was asked to go undercover. “I grew a mullet, got my ear pierced and started buying drugs for a living,” he says.

That assignment would ultimately lead him to a new career. After Ross was assigned to the DEA Task Force in Fort Worth, he would frequently be called on to testify during drug trials, and he made a life-changing discovery while watching attorneys prosecute and

Photo: Richard Greene

For the past decade, Jim Ross has been the principal of a private practice, Jim Ross Law Group. The awardwinning firm operates on the philosophy that all people deserve representation.

Photos courtesy of Jim Ross Law Group

defend cases: “I said to myself, ‘these guys suck. I can do better than this.’ And I decided to become a lawyer.”

He fast-tracked through law school in 28 months – it usually takes at least three years – and graduated in 1998. By May of 1999 he had a license to practice law, and he began his career with an asbestos litigation firm. “I didn’t want to do that,” he says, “but I ended up going through a divorce, and that paycheck looked pretty good at the time.”

One benefit of that job, however, was that he met Erin Brockovich, the legal clerk and environmental activist whose story became an acclaimed movie starring Julia Roberts. They were both speaking at a conference and became fast friends – and eventually legal partners.

Brockovich was asked to do some environmental casework for the New York firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, and she insisted that Ross be invited to join in the process. The firm hired him and set him up in an office in Fort Worth, where he worked for three and a half years before deciding to open his private practice.

He established Jim Ross Law Group in Arlington and gradually grew the practice, specializing in Personal Injury, Criminal Defense, Family Law, Business Litigation and Wills and Probate.

In the process, he and the firm also racked up the honors, which included being named “Veteran-Owned Business Of The Year 2017” by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce; being named 2015, 2016 and 2017 “Face of Personal Injury” by Fort Worth, Texas (now Fort Worth) magazine; being named one of the “Top Attorneys of North America” by Who’s Who Top Professionals for 2015-2016; being named as “Family Lawyers Worth Knowing” by Fort Worth magazine for 2015-2016; being named a “Top Attorney” by Fort Worth magazine for 2015-2017, and being selected as the All Star attorney in Arlington Today magazine’s readers’ choice poll.

Ross attributes that success to an important lesson he learned as an attorney. “It’s all about building relationships,” he says. “No

matter what business you’re in, how you treat people dictates how well you do. At least, that’s what’s most important to me.”

That’s why he routinely gives back to the community with which he fell in love back when he patrolled the Arlington streets decades ago. He is chairman of the board of the Arlington Police Foundation – “I never stopped being a cop at heart,” he says. He also works with Region 11 Special Olympics. “There is something that is priceless about those kids,” he says. “They haven’t learned how to hate people. They have this special, infant ability to just love everyone, and that inspires me.”

Ross is also on the board of the Fort Worth Chapter of the American Heart Association, a sponsor of the Salvation Army’s annual Inspiring Hope Luncheon, and an active participant in many Chamber of Commerce endeavors. “I’m a huge proponent of the Chamber,” he says. “The Arlington Chamber, like me, is so invested in relationship building that I believe it’s second to none.”

When he isn’t practicing law or welcoming patrons to the restaurant or serving his community, Ross can often be found cheering a local sports team or athlete. His office walls are adorned with memorabilia such as autographed jerseys of his childhood baseball hero Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers and his adult baseball hero Nolan Ryan of your Texas Rangers. He sponsors Xtreme Knock Out champion Kevin Holland. “My logo is right across his butt every time he fights,” Ross says. “Now that’s some good advertising.”

So is this: If you wonder what kind of man Jim Ross is, consider that his favorite endeavor is spending time with his two granddaughters, Lila and Ellie. “My grandkids are my life,” he says, beaming. “I don’t care what I have on my schedule, if my kids ask me to sit with the girls, I’m there – no questions asked.”

It could be argued that those last five words are a fitting description of the Marine-turned-policeman-turned-lawyer-turned-restaurateur known as Jim Ross. In fact, we’ll argue it – and rest our case. arlingtontoday.com • May 2018 • ARLINGTON TODAY

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