Barrister (2013 Call)

James is a leading junior with extensive experience of property litigation at all levels up to and including the Supreme Court, as well as arbitration, mediation and other forms of ADR.

James has particular expertise in the use of land for telecommunications infrastructure under the Electronic Communications Code (Sch. 3A CA 2003) and its predecessor code, having built a busy practice working with mobile network operators in telecommunications litigation and advising on site-specific and portfolio-wide legal matters.

He accepts instructions in all areas of real property and landlord and tenant law, and regularly provides advice and representation relating to business tenancies, property insolvency, property damage, mortgages and receivership, adverse possession, nuisance, dilapidations, development contracts, easements, restrictive covenants, land registration, trusts of land, proprietary estoppel and professional negligence.

He also retains a keen interest in rights to light, having worked with the Law Commission as a research assistant developing its proposals for reform (Law Com. 356) prior to his career at the Bar, and advises landowners and developers as to their rights and remedies in commercial and residential contexts.

James is currently briefed as junior counsel (led by Gary Cowen KC) for the Defendant purchaser in a claim brought by 191 Claimants each seeking to establish long-term rights in respect of dwellings within a substantial chalet park in the West Midlands by virtue of (inter alia) proprietary estoppel and/or an alleged grant of perpetually renewable leases: Quinn & 190 Others v Friesian Developments Limited PT-2022-000625. The trial is expected to take place over three weeks in 2024/2025.

Other notable recent cases in which James has been instructed include: CTIL v Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd; CTIL v Ashloch & AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd; On Tower UK Ltd v AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd [2022] UKSC 18; [2022] 1 W.L.R. 3360; Vodafone Ltd v Potting Shed Bar and Gardens Ltd (formerly Gencomp (No.7) Ltd) [2023] EWCA Civ 825; Oceanfill Ltd v Nuffield Health & Cannons Group Ltd [2022] EWHC 2178; and EE Ltd & H3G UK Ltd v Stephenson & AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd [2021] UKUT 167 (LC); [2021] 4 W.L.R. 116.

French

Chancery Bar Association and Property Bar Association.

MA Law (First Class) - Christ's College University of Cambridge (2012), Diploma in French Legal Studies - Universite de Poitiers (ERASMUS Scheme) (2011), BPTC - Kaplan Law School, London (2013), Major Exhibition Award (BPTC Scholarship): Inner Temple and De Hart Prize: Christ's College, University of Cambridge.