Dr James Bickford Smith > Chambers of Gavin Mansfield KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Littleton Chambers Offices
Littleton Chambers
3 KING'S BENCH WALK NORTH, TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7HR
England
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Dr James Bickford Smith
Position
Commercial, Commercial Chancery, Partnership & Employment law. In particular: 1) international commercial litigation (registered practitioner in DIFC) 2) litigation arising out of employment/fiduciary relationships 3) Partnership work (chair of Littleton Partnership Group) LLP 4) specialist work at interface of employment and chancery work 65 insolvency law.
2019/20 instructions have included 1) BNP Paribas SA V Trattamento Rifiuiti Metropolitani S.P.A, high-value international Swaps dispute in Court of Appeal and Commercial Court 2) Promontoria (Ram 2) Ltd v Nicoll, for secured lender in Chancery appeal re: £10.5m statutory demand and at subsequent full trial of Petition (against silk and junior) 3) for defendants in leading DIFC team move case (led by Tom Montagu-Smith QC) 4) for claimants in injunctive relief applications 5) for two companies in Chancery proceedings regarding shares and options of departed executives 6) test-case ET work 7) advising and acting for individual partners and groups of partners in cases involving both discrimination and classic partnership law.
Career
Called to Bar in 2008 as mature entrant.
Publications: Since 2012, columnist for the Practical Law Company, including “A Practical View From the Bar” and author of the main practice note on Injunctions.
Memberships
COMBAR; ELBA.
Education
Double First Class Honours (Balliol College). Masters and Doctorate. Former Lecturer at Oxford University. Also studied at Ecole Normale Supérieure.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Employment
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4James Bickford Smith – Littleton Chambers ‘James has an encyclopedic knowledge of post-termination restriction issues and, equally impressively, knows how to utilise that knowledge to provide practical advice. Clients appreciate his calm and detailed approach.’
London Bar > Partnership
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Littleton Chambers‘ partnership group receives a regular flow of instructions involving professional services firms for sensitive disputes carrying reputational and business risk. Members of chambers, including head of chambers Gavin Mansfield KC, handle a number of matters at the intersection of partnership and employment law, with clients including patent agents, surveyors and hedge funds. Mansfield KC was recently involved in Armstrong and others v Taylor and others, a High Court claim between members of an investment management business, including an allegation that one group of partners conspired to remove the claimant’s group’s influence. Jonathan Cohen KC is another notable name in this space, while Mohinderpal Sethi KC handles disputes arising in the professional and financial services sector; James Bickford Smith is noted for his expertise in partnership arbitrations.
Middle East: The English Bar > Commercial
(Leading juniors)Ranked: Tier 1James Bickford Smith – Littleton Chambers ‘James is an outstanding advocate, using a combination of charm and forensic technical ability to achieve strategic and commercial goals.’
Littleton Chambers offers considerable experience handling complex commercial and employment disputes before the DIFC, ADGM and other Middle Eastern offshore courts. Mohinderpal Sethi KC represented the defendants in Kahlon v Liberty Steel Group Ltd, a significant case before the DIFC Court of Appeal in which a damages claim in excess of $32 million was brought by the company’s former CEO; the judgement will be a leading case on the jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts under the Judicial Authority Law. James Bickford Smith remains highly sought after for complex employee disputes which span multiple jurisdictions, including the DIFC, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.