Clinical Negligence, Professional Negligence, Disciplinary and Regulatory, Commercial Disputes, Personal Injury, Sports Law
Barrister specialising in Clinical Negligence, Professional Negligence, Disciplinary and Regulatory, Commercial Disputes, Personal Injury, Sports Law.
James Counsell KC was called to the bar in 1984 and took silk in 2017.
James Counsell KC is widely recognised in the fields of Clinical and Professional Negligence, Personal Injury, regulatory and disciplinary hearings and Financial Services claims, both in the UK and abroad.
His clinical negligence work, acting both for claimants and for defendants, is combined with a busy disciplinary and regulatory practice, regularly representing doctors, dentists, barristers, solicitors and those in the financial services sector in their respective disciplinary tribunals. He acts both for practitioners and also for the BSB and the SRA.
In the field of financial Services, James acts for defendants in contempt proceedings in the Business and Property Courts, brought against individuals for alleged breaches of freezing and disclosure orders and for claimants and financial institutions in mis-selling claims and other regulatory breaches. He represents litigants in the UK and also in the Middle East with ongoing clients in the DIFC Courts in Dubai (leading Stephen Doherty).
He also specialises in acting for survivors of non-recent sexual abuse, having recently acted as lead counsel (leading Benjamin Bradley) in two claims against the Jehovah’s Witness organisation, the second of which is now a leading Supreme Court authority on vicarious liability and limitation. He has acted for numerous claimants in cases against football and other sports clubs and entities, religious and educational organisations and the Scout Association.
James is a Head of Chambers at Outer Temple Chambers and its Head of Governance.
Conversational French, Basic Spanish.
Marlborough College; Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Cricket, rugby, gardening, farming.