7 King's Bench Walk

James has a busy practice spanning all areas of commercial law, including insurance and reinsurance, general commercial disputes, international arbitration, civil fraud, shipping, company and insolvency disputes, financial services and professional negligence.

James is regularly instructed in high-value court and arbitration proceedings both in London and abroad. He has a keen interest in appellate proceedings, having appeared in the Privy Council, as well as regularly in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. James is also presently assisting with an appeal to the Federal Court of Malaysia on the seaworthiness obligation in the Hague Rules.

His current and recent instructions as junior counsel include acting for the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB in a US$1 billion fraud claim in the BVI (led by Tom Smith KC), successfully defending a US$65 million HKIAC joint venture dispute (led by David Allen KC), acting in an LCIA arbitration over a settlement agreement (led by Vernon Flynn KC, Toby Landau KC and Jern-Fei Ng KC), and successfully defending a challenge under ss. 67 and 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 alleging bias by an arbitrator (led by Marcus Mander).

James has considerable advocacy experience, including making the oral submissions in a successful appeal in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal (Lau Man Sang, James v King Bun Limited BVIHCMAP 2022/0019), appearing as sole counsel in the High Court in a challenge under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 and appearing regularly in the Scottish courts, prior to transferring to the English Bar. James retains an interest in disputes with a Scottish dimension.

James studied law at the University of Edinburgh, where he was the second-most distinguished graduate in his year. James was then awarded a distinction in the MPhil in Law at the University of Oxford. James has also published articles and spoken at conferences on a variety of commercial matters and his research has been cited by the Law Commission. James is also a member of the Bar of the British Virgin Islands.

James is called to the bar in England and Wales (2020) and in the British Virgin Islands (2022).

COMBAR

University of Oxford (2020 MPhil (Law), Distinction)

The University of Edinburgh (2017 Dip LP, Distinction)

The University of Edinburgh (2016 LLB, First Class, Second-Most Distinguished Graduate)