Scott James is the Founding Director of the Stanford Private Capital Initiative, which serves as a platform for advancing scholarship, education, and dialogue on the evolving private capital ecosystem and its intersection with law, regulation, and public policy.

James draws on two decades of hands-on experience at the center of the private capital ecosystem, spanning fund management, startup financing, exits, regulation, and legal strategy across global markets. Before joining Stanford, he was a partner and chief operating officer at Goodwater Capital, where he continues to serve as a Venture Partner. At Goodwater, he led day-to-day firm operations and drove key strategic initiatives, from fundraising and deployment to portfolio management and liquidity, while building the operational infrastructure to scale the firm.

James has held senior legal and operational roles at several leading venture capital firms. At Accel and DCVC, he structured, negotiated, and executed transactions across the globe, working closely with portfolio company management teams on legal, operational, and regulatory matters. He began his legal career at Gunderson Dettmer, where he advised early- and growth-stage startups and leading venture capital funds on financings, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, and corporate governance.

In addition to his professional practice, James has served as an adjunct professor at both UC Law San Francisco and Berkeley Law. He co-chairs the advisory board of the UC Center for Business Law SF, served as an executive fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, and was a member of the National Venture Capital Association’s General Counsel Advisory Board.