Bio
James is a Disputes Partner.
James has more than 28 years of experience in commercial contractual disputes, covering engineering, manufacturing, entertainment, IT, asset and share sales, shareholder and partnership disputes. This includes claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misfeasance and restraint of trade, professional negligence and civil fraud (deceit, conspiracy, breach of trust).
He is frequently instructed on disputes running into the many millions of pounds, often involving multi-party or jurisdictional elements.
As well as acting in the courts, James frequently engages in arbitration as well as other forms of dispute resolution such as expert determination and mediation and he has particular expertise in the appeals process having frequently represented parties in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. James is also experienced in procuring freezing injunctions, search and seizure orders and other forms of mandatory injunction.
His clients include Plcs, utility companies and European institutions as well as high-net-worth individuals, owner-managed businesses, and charities. James has acted for the European Commission and representied the European Union for more than 25 years, and is frequently instructed to act for the Commission in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Examples of James’ work include:
- Acting for the European Commission in the Supreme Court in the (reported) case of The Kingdom of Spain (Appellant) v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg SARL and another [2026] 2 WLR 581.