James (Jim) D. Gallagher is a Scottish civil servant and professor. He was educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities and joined the Scottish Office in 1976 to work in the Home and Development departments as well as in several other posts. He was the Private Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs in 1979-80, and to both Malcolm Rifkind and Ian Lang in their capacity as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1989 to 1991.

He was appointed to the UK Cabinet Secretariat and then to the Prime Minister in 1999–2000 before being made Head of the Scottish Executive's Justice Department in September 2000. In 2005, he was appointed Visiting Professor of Government at Glasgow University. He is also Visiting Professor in the Centre for Public and Corporate Ethics at Glasgow Caledonian University.

He has been appointed to the secretariat of the Commission on Scottish Devolution established by the Scottish Parliament to discuss new proposals for reform of the constitution in Scotland and the powers of the Parliament and Scottish Government, including financial powers.