The teachers we remember most are those who help us change the way we look at the world.
For James L. Chosy ’89, senior executive vice president and general counsel at U.S. Bancorp, that teacher was Professor John Matheson, the Law Alumni Distinguished Professor of Law and faculty director of the Corporate Institute. So, the honor of giving the keynote address at the Law School’s 2025 Matheson Lecture in Corporate Governance holds special meaning for him.
When he came to the Law School in 1986, Chosy knew little about law or the world of business. Matheson’s contracts class was one of the first Chosy would take, and it was one he would never forget.
“I was just very inspired by him, and it was for a couple of reasons,” Chosy recalls. “One was just the experience and expertise he brought to his class. The second was his obvious love of teaching. I think it’s rare to have the depth of love for the teaching that John has.”
The two men formed a bond, including being teammates on an intramural basketball team, and Chosy took every class he could from Matheson. The experience, Chosy says, deeply influenced his career.
“Jim was a wonderful, engaged, and successful student and has always been a marvelous lawyer,” says Matheson. “I admire Jim most, however, as a human being who selflessly supports and inspires all those around him. Jim leads by example. He brings out the best in people.”
Reflecting back, Chosy says that after graduating from the Law School in 1989, one thing he knew for certain was that he didn’t want to be a litigator. So, when he started at Dorsey & Whitney that year, he worked in the firm’s corporate finance group. He eventually left and joined the legal department at one of the firm’s biggest clients, First Bank System.
“It was an exciting time,” Chosy recalls. “The banking space was quite dynamic, very active. The strategies for most institutions were largely around mergers and acquisitions.”
Like many purely commercial banks, First Bank wanted to broaden its services to include investment banking. In 1997, the bank purchased a mid-sized Minneapolis investment banking firm, Piper Jaffray, and four years later, Chosy was asked to join Piper, when it was still owned by the bank (now known as U.S. Bank), as its general counsel. After Piper Jaffray was spun off two years later in 2003, Chosy remained with it as the GC.
He stayed with Piper for another 10 years, until his former employer, U.S. Bank, asked him to throw his hat in the ring when the bank’s general counsel position became open. He got the job in 2013 and has remained with U.S. Bank ever since.
“I was incredibly fortunate to be able to come back to a company that I was familiar with, though I can’t say I knew it exceptionally well,” Chosy says. “It had changed a lot. It had grown in scope and scale and become international, but I knew the business, and there were some people here whom I’d worked with previously. So, it was the best of both worlds for me to come back to a place that was familiar, but now a different company with a much bigger platform, a much bigger opportunity.”
Today, U.S. Bank’s assets are the fifth largest in the United States, and in addition to serving as general counsel in charge of a large legal department, Chosy is also a senior executive vice president.
The many responsibilities that accompany that position can be demanding. But Chosy believes that he holds an obligation to serve the broader community and the legal profession as well.
“I believe that general counsels have a unique opportunity, by virtue of the position and the voice that we have, to be influential,” he says.
Chosy is active in a variety of community and professional organizations, serving on the boards of the Guthrie Theater, the Fund for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Equal Justice Works, and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, among others.
In addition, and perhaps due to the influence that John Matheson had on him, Chosy has long taken mentorship roles, both within U.S. Bank and the Law School.
“I do it because I enjoy it,” he says. “I learn a lot from the mentees (who are typically of a different generation than me) and find myself energized and hopeful for the future as a result of the relationships. I also believe it to be valuable, offering a connection, resource, and advisor role for those making their way in the corporate world or the legal profession. The legal profession is still an apprenticeship game—you learn best by watching, talking to, and working with other lawyers.”
Chosy admits that being the keynote speaker at an event named after his favorite Law School teacher might prompt a few feelings of nostalgia for his student days on the West Bank.
“I didn’t come from a family of lawyers, I didn’t really know any lawyers, and I didn’t have a specific career strategy,” he recalls. “But if I did have a strategy, I would say it was just to prepare myself and hope that opportunities would find me if I worked hard and tried to attach myself to the best lawyers I could find and learn from them. So, that’s what I tried to do, and I have been really fortunate to have had some amazing opportunities and work with some incredible lawyers and businesspeople. It’s been a remarkable journey for which I’m truly grateful.”