James Gerard Beebe Dallal

James Gerard Beebe Dallal passed away in San Francisco, CA, on September 12, 2024. James was born In Smithtown, New York, on April 10, 1980, to Gerard Elie Dallal and Ellen Scott Beebe. At the age of 4, he moved with his mother to Williamstown, Massachusetts. He attended Williamstown public schools, graduating from Mount Greylock Regional High School in 1998. As a student, he loved Little League baseball and was active in the Boy Scouts and in the Future Problem Solvers.

James earned a B.A. in History from Rice University, Houston, Texas, in 2002, and then worked several years as a paralegal in Houston. Deciding to become an attorney himself, he earned a J.D. Cum Laude from University of California College of the Law San Francisco ("Hastings") in 2010, as well as LL.M. in European Law avec mention bien (sole recipient) from Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2), Paris, France in 2010. As an opinion columnist and speech & debate champion in College, James long held academic pursuits close to his heart through his student years: he served as editor/research assistant to Professor Ugo Mattei's Schlesinger's Comparative Law; served as editor for Professor Luisa Antoniolli (U. Trento), A Factual Assessment of the Draft Common Frame of Reference.

James worked professionally as an antitrust litigation attorney on plaintiff's side, a career choice marrying his interest in law, social justice and economics. James was a highly accomplished, fierce and fair attorney well respected by co-counsels and opposing counsels. He was lead associate for lead class counsel on major class action lawsuits generating approximately $1 billion in settlements and a key member on a high-stake litigation trial team, conducting dozens of depositions of senior executives and expert witnesses, and negotiating settlement arrangements. He served on the California Lawyers Association, Antitrust & Unfair Competition Law Section Executive Committee and was Vice Chair of its Diversity Committee. James won numerous accolades through his career: Northern California Super Lawyers 2023-2024, Rising Star 2017-2021, and American Antitrust Institute Enforcement Awards for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice 2023.

Dedicated to social justice and motivated by true conviction of a fairer world even in the arena of economics competition, James by no means confined his interests to his career, achievements, or material pursuits. James was an avid reader: he would always bring his backpack full of books whenever he stepped out for a walk. From the east coast, James always joked about San Franciscan's urban uniform, "everyone dresses as if they have a camping emergency." By the same token, James always had a reading emergency. His almost child-like curiosity to this world was so vast and deep that his reading list du jour is always a delight by itself: across the years he learned about Hawaii pineapple plantation farm's pickup truck inventory by number, different species of bees, and how to harvest maple syrup, while simultaneously reading more esoteric books such as Letters from Prison by Antonio Gramsci, and The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam, a 700-page behemoth that he gladly approved as it would certainly pass Anthony Bourdain's test for a truly good pan - "a proper saute pan, for instance, should cause serious head injury if brought down hard against someone's skull."

James loved music and was a jazz aficionado. He had a carefully-curated vinyl records collection and made a point to visit used record shops whenever traveling; not all those record shops visits were pre-disclosed and consented to by his partner, while James certainly took delight in those prankish detours. With his vinyl collection swelling and display cubes mysteriously turning up at home across the years, James carefully filed them: always with a dot documenting the date and location of acquisition. He had a fairly catholic taste: Fela Kuti, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Bombino, Frank Zappa, Go Go Penguin, Earth, Wind & Fire all frequented his beloved record player. All records were arranged in alphabetical order by artists' last names, with the exception of Zappa taking the first place, as per James "everything begins with Zappa." James's home was never quiet: he always had music on and strictly enforced the rule to let records' lengths dictating daily routines, i.e., always listen to albums from beginning to end and grocery errands can wait, please.

James loved traveling and languages. He spoke English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, some Chinese and Japanese, and recently started learning Italian. Traveling for him was a way to see and connect with the world in its unmediated form, never only about hedonistic pleasure, although he did love wine and coffee. Advertisements boasting secluded resorts and exclusive experiences always horrified and confounded James, as he could never understand the appeal and was somewhat appalled by the selfish insistence and imposition of one's pleasure-seeking on another locale. Over the years this preference led to interesting places, which indeed were not all suitable for the Bureau of Tourism's glossy commercials. As a consolation, however, James had long accepted his partner's career evaluation that advertising and marketing would be an ill-fit, not instrumental for this household's long term financial security.

James was a fundamentally decent and intelligent human being with insatiable curiosity towards the world and a wry sense of humor. He was a loyal friend, caring brother, dedicated son, and loving partner. Certainly opinionated, James had a great tenderness towards others for whom he held deep empathy, sacrificed and took on occasionally oversized burdens. James held an unshakable core belief and ideal on how the world should function and can be improved, from broader social justice issues to mundane daily interactions. While his partner is often of the view that the world and his fellow travelers sometimes failed him and should have treated him more gently, James has led an incredibly rich life with unmatched connections with the world, transcending what many of us can hope for with a more generous time on earth. As James commented, the reason why Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie is one of his favorites is that the book is about an indomitable man's pursuit and struggle in this often too-harsh world with abundance of setbacks and heartbreaks, but somehow managed being entirely sincere and without a dosage of cynicism; the same can be said about James's life.

He is survived by Mi Yang, his partner of 10 years; his parents, Ellen Beebe of Williamstown, MA, and Gerard Dallal of Arlington, MA; his brothers, Joshua Dallal of Andover, MA, and Samuel Dallal of Somerville, MA; and his cousin, Avery Radclyffe Klotsche of Holyoke, MA, who was like a brother to him, as well and other cousins and his aunt, Sarah Fryer. He was predeceased by his grandparents and his aunt, Mary Rose Dallal; his aunt, Ann Beebe Klotsche; and his uncle, William Beebe.

The cremation will be private. A memorial service will be held at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church, San Francisco, on Wednesday, September 25, at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Food Bank of San Francisco.