James Webb Huston (October 26, 1953 – April 14, 2016) was an American author and lawyer, best known for his popular military and legal thrillers.

After graduating in 1984, he moved to California to join San Diego–based law firm Gray Cary Ames & Frye,[2] and began flying in the Navy Reserves out of NAS Miramar.

He was elevated to partner at Gray Cary Ames & Frye in 1990, and led the firm's tort and product liability practice group.

On September 2, 2010, Huston was named one of the top ten product liability litigators in the country by the legal newswire Law 360.

His third, Balance Of Power, combined Huston's military and legal expertise with political intrigue and was an instant success, with film rights sold to Jerry Bruckheimer and the Walt Disney Company.

The book was based on an obscure clause in the U.S. Constitution that had captured Huston's imagination—Congress's power to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal—and he had found his voice.

Huston's favorite author was Patrick O'Brian, who wrote the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

He also admired the works of Ernest Hemingway and Marilynne Robinson—Hemingway for his crisp prose and captivating stories, and Robinson for her use of language and depth.