What they say
"… has excellent judgment and his initial view on a case is rarely wrong."
Legal 500 UK 2021
James is an experienced
commercial litigation Partner. He has a wide-ranging practice covering commercial, corporate, contract and negligence disputes, as well as banking litigation. James advises in all areas of dispute resolution including High Court litigation, arbitration and ADR, with a particular focus on mediation. James aims to use the most appropriate forum to achieve the best commercial outcome for his clients.
James’ practice focuses predominantly on commercial and banking disputes often involving issues of negligence, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, enforcement of guarantees and contractual disputes.
James also deals with claims involving the sale of goods including retention of title issues, warranty claims, factoring and invoice discounting, professional negligence, commercial and corporate fraud particularly following an insolvency event, including misappropriation and concealment of assets and debt recovery.
James has been recognised in both major legal directories. Chambers and Partners 2020 describes him as being: "technically astute ... provides an excellent service to his clients"; in the 2021 edition, he is described as "... a great pleasure to work with and his input is always on the money."
Notable cases
- Advising a company in respect of a claim regarding car parking rights and specific performance of building obligations near Heathrow Airport in the reported case of Airport Industrial GP Ltd v Heathrow Airport Ltd and AP16 Ltd [2015] EWHC 3753 (Ch)
- Advising a leading high street bank in respect of a claim of c.£5 million involving allegations of breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duties
- Advising a leading high street bank in respect of a claim against it for up to £4 million involving issues of fraud, conspiracy to defraud, deceit, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence
- Advising a leading high street bank in respect of several professional negligence claims against professional advisers arising out of mortgage lending
- Advising an insolvency practitioner in respect of various misfeasance actions against the directors of a group of companies involving sums of c.£4 million
- Acting for a company pursuing a professional negligence claim against environmental consultants valued at c.£1.5 million