Bio
James has a broad commercial litigation practice, including contractual disputes, negligence and professional negligence actions, director and officer liability issues and construction litigation. He has appeared as lead counsel and junior counsel before the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal in Ontario.
James trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom, completing his legal training at the University of Law in London and with the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, where he was awarded a Lord Denning scholarship and a Lord Mansfield Scholarship. He completed a Masters in Law at the University of Cambridge, with a specialisation in Commercial Law, before completing the Canadian accreditation process.
Prior to joining TGF, James worked for the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom, lectured public speaking at the University of Vermont and taught debating with various charities, schools and Universities.
James was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2012, and called to the Bar of Ontario in 2018. He completed his articles at Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, during which he won the Michael MacNaughton Student Writing Award for a paper entitled “Another Day – Equitable Subordination in CCAA Proceedings.” He currently acts as a co-editor of the TGF Topline, a quarterly publication that keeps readers up to date on restructuring and litigation cases.
Representative Mandates
- Junior counsel to a committee of Non-Mutual Policyholders in the demutualization of Economical Mutual Insurance Company, the first ever demutualization in Canada. Mandate to represent policy holders in negotiation of the allocation of $2 billion in benefits among policy holders.
- Junior counsel to a big four accounting firm in defence of two nine-figure auditor negligence claims.
- Junior counsel on multiple private construction dispute processes and arbitrations.
- Junior counsel representing professionals in investigations initiated by professional regulatory body.
- Managed and directed multiple document review projects involving hundreds of thousands of documents and involving use of e-Discovery software to assist with document filtering and review.
- Junior counsel on behalf of a Receiver to a public company, advancing various claims against former directors and officers and other professional advisors.
- Counsel responsible for managing 20 to 30 files relating to failures to close on various residential real estate transactions.
- Counsel to U.K.-based lender, managing recovery on a portfolio of loan investments.