Year of Call: 2006
“Fearless and stands up to the judge.” “He is very impressive, bright and on top of everything.”
“Extremely personable and easy to work with.” “Clever, thoughtful and incisive, his reputation continues to grow.”
"An exceptionally bright rising star of the Chancery Bar”, James won ‘Insolvency Junior of the Year’ at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2018. His practice focuses on large-scale and complex litigation in the areas of insolvency; commercial fraud and asset recovery (including through the use of domestic or international insolvency processes); partnership and shareholder disputes; and domestic and offshore trusts matters. Recent significant cases include two sets of proceedings arising out of the corrupt sale of Formula One, both of which featured in The Lawyer’s top 20 cases of the year; the leading Court of Appeal authorities on, respectively, the law of privilege in personal insolvency and the threshold test for obtaining security for costs; a Privy Council decision on a novel point of BVI company law; and a Commercial Court decision on the scope of the court’s power to grant urgent injunctive relief in support of arbitration proceedings. He is a highly experienced advocate equally at home in trials and complex interim applications and is noted for his forthright and fearless advocacy often against more senior opponents. He is a member of the Serious Fraud Office’s panel of counsel for recovery of the proceeds of crime and was formerly standing junior counsel to the Department of Business in directors’ disqualification proceedings.
James is also “a superb, trusted counsel in partnership matters” and funds and joint venture disputes. His experience extends to issues concerning shareholders of English and offshore companies, as well as members of LLPs and limited and traditional partnerships, in sectors encompassing financial services, property development and the full spectrum of professional services.
He is recognised as a leading junior in the legal directories where, in addition to being praised for his “razor sharp mind” and legal skills that are “extremely strong across the board”, he is described as “responsive, incisive and user-friendly” and “a good team player” who is “incredibly easy to talk to and very accessible.”
Chambers UK Bar 2021 Rankings - “They are excellent without exception”
Serle Court is delighted to announce that chambers has been ranked in 11 practice areas in this year's Chambers UK... Read More
Serle Court is delighted to announce another successful year in Legal 500 2021 rankings
Serle Court has been acknowledged as a Top Tier Set in the following practice areas: Civil Fraud Offshore Partnership ... Read More
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge - MA in History (Double First)
Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (John F Kennedy Scholar)
City University, London - Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Distinction)
Inns of Court School of Law - Bar Vocational Course (Outstanding)
Serious Fraud Office Proceeds of Crime (B Panel) (2017)
Junior Counsel to the Crown (C Panel) (2011-16)
Junior Counsel to the Department of Business for Directors’ Disqualification hearings (2010-11)
Counsulting Editorial Board, LexisPSL Corporate
Contributing Editor, Butterworths Corporate Law Service
James appears on the BSB register as James David Mather
921736723
"Tricia Ronane, ex-wife of the Clash bass guitarist Paul Simon, loses bid to sell half of royalties" The Times, 22 March 2019
"The Clash’s manager loses fight to sell share of band royalties company set up after her divorce from Paul Simonon" NME, 21 March 2019
"SHE FOUGHT THE LAW & LOST - Wife of The Clash bassist Paul Simonon loses £5million divorce fight to be ‘free’ of the punk rocker" The Sun, 21 March 2019
"A decision with important implications for how companies handle wrongdoing" The Times, 5 July 2018
The Legal 500
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