Private Client:Trusts and Probate, Private Client: Personal Tax, Court of Protection

Barrister with a general Chancery practice including litigation, advice and drafting in all of Chambers’ core disciplines. He has particular experience of private client work and advises regularly on wills, trust and estate administration, capital taxation, Court of Protection matters, contentious trust and inheritance disputes and family provision claims.

As a litigator, James appears in trust and estate disputes both as sole counsel and as part of a team. He also undertakes property, insolvency and general commercial litigation in the High Court and the County Court. While the majority of his cases are litigated in the English courts, he has also recently been instructed in trust disputes in Jersey, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

Called 2011, Lincoln’s Inn. Prior to pupillage James worked as an assistant section editor at the Daily Telegraph. James is an author of Williams on Wills (10th ed.) and a contributor to the TolleyGuidance series on Inheritance Tax Planning.

Reported cases include:Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing [2017] EWCA Civ 74: Data Protection Act and trusts.

Shergill & Ors v Khaira & Ors [2017] EWHC 769 (Ch): Dispute over trusteeship of Sikh templesBathurst & Anor v Bathurst & Ors (Rev 1) [2016] EWHC 3033 (Ch): Variation of trusts applicationDavidson v Seelig [2016] EWHC 549 (Ch): Junior counsel for the trustees in a late application to amend concerning the locus standi of trust protectors.Gayle and Anor v Gayle and Ors [2016] EWHC 2587 (Ch): Permission to appeal and relief from sanctions.

Recent published articles: Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing: The practical implications, March 2017 Changes to the UK taxation of non-doms, Lawskills, 2016 Long arm of the law: the English court’s power to vary foreign trusts, Trusts and Trustees Standing on thin ice: court applications by trust protectors, Lawskills, 2016 Crociani: the proper forum for trust disputes, Journal of International Tax, Trust and Corporate Planning, 2015, Vol 22, Issue 2 Have you made a serious mistake, Lawskills, 2015 The bell is tolling for pilot trusts, Lawskills, 2015 Can the proceeds of a life insurance policy be clawed back in 1975 Act Claims?, Lawskills, 2014

Basic French, Basic Italian

Chancery Bar Association.

Professional Legal Qualifications: Bar of England and Wales [2011]. Other qualifications: Bar Professional Training Course, College of Law: Outstanding [2011]; Graduate Diploma In Law, College of Law: Commendation [2010]; BA (English Literature), University of York: First class honours [2009]. Academic awards, Hardwicke award, Lincoln’s Inn [2010]; Buchanan prize, Lincoln’s Inn [2011].