James Noble

Dispute Resolution & Litigation; Restructuring & Insolvency

Based in our Tier 1 ranked (Legal 500) Singapore office, James Noble leads the litigation, insolvency and restructuring practice in Asia and the largest, most diverse offshore litigation team in Singapore. James advises on Cayman, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Bermuda law, and is the only Cayman and BVI admitted (and Bermuda registered) litigator in Singapore.

A specialist in complex and high value shareholder litigation, asset recovery, cross-border enforcement and insolvency, James has over 20 years' experience working in a wide variety of commercial, trust and estate disputes and private wealth matters. He regularly acts in high profile and market leading cases, particularly in connection with listed companies, and has specialist expertise in appellate matters in both the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.

James is frequently recognised as one of the outstanding offshore litigators in Asia by market leading legal directories and publications. In particular, he is ranked consistently by Chambers Asia and is listed as a Leading Individual for the Offshore category in Singapore in The Legal 500 Asia 2023 Guide. He has also been named in the Asian Legal Business (ALB) Offshore Client Choice List and as one of the Top 15 Offshore Litigators in Asia in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In addition, James was recognised in the Top 50 Offshore Lawyers 2022 by Asia Business Law Journal (ABLJ) as part of the publication's prestigious annual A-List series. Earlier this year, James was named as an expert in asset recovery by Who's Who Legal in its Southeast Asia guide.

James is an active contributor of thought leadership pieces, and is most recently a co-author of a textbook published by The Global Legal Post on "Commercial Litigation and Enforcement".

Clients describe James as "an outstanding team leader, able to integrate a high-level awareness of his clients’ commercial objectives with an uncanny oversight of what the most junior associate, or busiest London silk, is doing to deliver the results needed for a positive outcome. Always calm in a tough and highly competitive environment." He is also noted as "a great lawyer, with a very sensible approach to litigation matters" and "whom clients respond really well to".

James is a registered foreign lawyer with the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). He is a member of the Main Organising Committee of INSOL and is an active contributor to the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). He is also one of the first offshore law practitioners to be approved as a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore (IPAS).