4 Stone Buildings

Barrister specialising in litigation and advice in the fields of commercial dispute resolution, civil fraud and asset recovery, company law, insolvency law and banking and finance.

James specialises in commercial and company matters, with a particular emphasis on shareholder disputes, fraud, and banking litigation. His work encompasses advice, drafting and representation for domestic and international clients across 4 Stone Buildings’ core practice areas. Other recent work has seen James advise and represent clients in a number of pieces of trust litigation (acting both for trustees and beneficiaries), a damages enquiry in relation to a substantial intellectual property dispute in the pharmaceutical industry, a dispute over promotion and distribution arrangements in the music industry, a successful challenge to an arbitral award under s.69 of the 1996 Act, and a number of international arbitrations.

Equally at home acting as sole counsel, leading other juniors, or being led, James provides client-focused advice, regularly appears in the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court, and has appeared in a number of reported cases in both the Court of Appeal (including as sole counsel) and the Supreme Court. James also has experience of acting in acting in international arbitrations (both led and unled and under a number of bodies, including LCIA and ICC) and challenges to awards under the Arbitration Acts.

Practice Areas

Banking and Finance: a significant number of James’ cases involve banking or finance-related issues, including in relation to developing areas such as claims involving the Quincecare duty. James has particular experience of acting (both as a junior and as sole counsel, and both for and against banks) in complex, high-value cases in this field, including twice in the Supreme Court (Stanford International Bank v. HSBC and Buyers v. SNB).

Company law: as a core part of 4 Stone Buildings’ work, James has experience acting and advising in all manner of company related disputes, with a particular emphasis on shareholder and joint venture disputes.

Commercial disputes and fraud: James provides advice and representation in connection with a range of commercial disputes, including those involving allegations of dishonesty, and frequently appears in the Commercial Court and in commercial matters in the Chancery Division. He has experience of trial work, appellate work (in both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court), obtaining and resisting interim relief and advising on and acting in committal applications (at both first instance and on appeal).

Insolvency & restructuring: James regularly appears in the Insolvency and Companies Court, acting for and advising debtors and creditors on a wide range of matters, including claims relating to antecedent transactions, issues surrounding the validity of appointment of office holders, and disputed administration applications.

Trusts: James is experienced in acting for and against trustees (including trustees of traditional and offshore private trusts and trustees in the context of corporate finance transactions, e.g. bond and security trustees).

Arbitration: James acts and advises in relation to national and international arbitrations and has experience, led and unled, of both arbitrations (including under LCIA and ICC rules) and challenges to awards under the Arbitration Acts (including a recent successful challenge under s.69 of the 1996 Act).

Recent reported cases in which James was involved include:

- Asghar v Patel [2026] EWHC 396 (Comm) (Successful challenge to an UNCITRAL award under s.69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 concerning the construction of a settlement agreement)

- Mason v Barclays Bank Plc [2025] EWCA 265; [2026] 1 All E.R. (Comm) 340 (Successfully resisting a challenge to committal for contempt);

- Dylan v. Barclays Bank Plc [2025] EWCA Civ 20 (Successfully resisting a challenge to committal for contempt);

- Barclays Bank Plc v. Dylan & Ors [2024] EWHC 2043 (Ch) (Obtaining a passport order against a contemnor);

- Barclays Bank Plc v. Dylan & Ors [2024] EWHC 1994 and 2776 (Ch) (Successful committal applications against multiple defendants in connection with alleged breaches of a number of freezing orders);

- Eli Lilly & co v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited [2024] EWHC 2474 (Ch) (Acting for a defendant generic pharmaceutical company in a contested (and successful) application to admit client representatives of the defendant into an “Attorney Eyes Only” tier of an agreed confidentiality order)

- Barclays Bank Plc v. Citibank NA [2024] EWHC 53 (Ch) (Obtaining third party disclosure against a bank in the context of underlying conspiracy and unjust enrichment claims);

- Barclays Bank Plc v. Dylan & Ors [2023] EWHC 3523 (Ch) (adjournments; listing appeals);

- Byers v. Saudi National Bank [2023] UKSC 51; [2024] A.C. 1191 (Appeal to the Supreme Court in relation to the scope of knowing receipt claims where the underlying beneficial interest in property wrongfully paid away in breach of trust is extinguished by the method of transfer);

- Re LYHFL Ltd [2023] EWHC 2585 (Ch); [2024] 2 B.C.L.C. 531 (Resisting an administration application by a director where the director had not been validly authorised under the company’s articles);

- Eli Lilly & Co v. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd [2023] EWHC 68 (Ch) (Resisting an application for the determination of preliminary issues in proceedings concerning the nature and amount of damages, if any, due under a settlement agreement arising out of the marketing and sale of a patented drug combination);

- Stanford International Bank Ltd v. HSBC Bank Plc [2022] UKSC 34; [2023] AC 761 (Appeal to the Supreme Court in proceedings against a bank arising out of an underlying multi-billion dollar Ponzi fraud. The case involved a claim under the Quincecare duty (a duty owed by banks to their customers not to act on instructions where the bank is on enquiry as to a possible fraud), with the Supreme Court giving guidance as to the scope of loss under such a claim);

- Global Energy Horizons Corp v. Gray [2021] EWCA Civ 123; [2021] Costs L.R. 133 and [2020] EWCA Civ 1668; [2021] 1 W.L.R. 2264 (Complex appeal and cross-appeal heard over seven days in the Court of Appeal and generating two reported judgments dealing with numerous issues including costs, the scope of an account of profits, abuse of process, and allegations of misleading the court).

Called 2008; joined 4 Stone Buildings in 2010 following completion of his pupillage. James has been one of chambers’ four Pupil Supervisors since 2022.

COMBAR; Chancery Bar Association.

Norwich School; Warwick University (BA (Hons) First Class History); BPP Law School (DipLaw; Bar Vocational Course).

Publications

James is a contributing author to Whittaker and Machell on the Law of Limited Liability Partnerships (6th)

James was a contributing author to Litigation in the Time of Covid-19, the 4 Stone Buildings’ E-Book.

Music (guitar, piano), fencing, film.