James graduated with an LLB (Hons) from Sheffield University and obtained an LLM (Hons) from Cambridge University. He is admitted as a solicitor of England & Wales and called to the Malaysian Bar. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb).

James is a founding partner of SDC and has more than 25 experience in insurance, shipping, international trade and offshore energy. He principally acts for shipowners, charterers, carriers and their insurers including P&I, FD&D, cargo, hull and liability insurers. He is also regularly instructed on behalf of port authorities, freight forwarders and commodity traders. In the energy sector, he often represents off-shore oilfield and vessel operators, contractors and their insurers. His breadth of experience includes casualties and collisions, salvage, general average, marine pollution, bills of lading, charterparty and other disputes involving carriage by sea and offshore operations.

James also has a substantial practice in general insurance and regularly acts for insurers and reinsurers of property, casualty, financial and liability lines. He has been involved in several complex and high value claims and policy disputes and is also instructed to advise on regulatory and policy wording issues.

He is a qualified arbitrator and on the panel of amongst others, the Asian Institute of Arbitration (AIAC) and Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA).