Personal bio
James is a senior junior barrister based at 3 Verulam Buildings in London, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration, banking and financial services, civil fraud, company and shareholder disputes, financial crime, cyber fraud and cryptoassets, energy, professional negligence, regulatory and professional disciplinary law, and commercial judicial review. He has substantial experience of high-value, complex commercial litigation and arbitration, and regularly appears as sole counsel for applications and trials, as well as acting as junior counsel in larger legal teams. Much of James’s work is international, including recent cases in several Middle East jurisdictions, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Cyprus, Guernsey and Jersey. James has been recognised as a leading junior in the UK, UAE and Asia Pacific regions, and is described as "a very hardworking and technically-able barrister. He has a good presence and is a persuasive advocate" (Legal 500 EMEA 2023); “an incredible lawyer… brilliant in analysing complex legal issues in financial cases” (Legal 500 Middle East Commercial 2022), “very intelligent and personable… an unflappable junior who provides serene, sensible advice in a crisis” (Legal 500 Financial Services 2022) and “a stellar team player” (Legal 500 Asia Pacific Commercial 2022), with “great understanding of international fraud disputes” (Legal 500 Fraud: Civil 2022). Previous editions of Legal 500 described him as “diligent, insightful and creative, with an impressive ability to assimilate and synthesise extremely large volumes of facts”, “very analytical and has a clarity of thought which all busy solicitors value – got on top of matters very quickly and excellent drafting”, and “an impressive advocate who is highly intelligent and knowledgeable; a delight to work with”.