James McWilliams

Call: 2011

Data Protection Notice

"James McWilliams is absolutely brilliant. He's calm, responsive and client friendly."
- Chambers & Partners UK Bar (2024)

'James is a confident advocate, who shows good judgement. He is also good on his legal analysis and a pleasure to work with.'
- Legal 500 UK Bar (2024)

"James has very good judgement and his written work is excellent."
- Chambers & Partners UK Bar (2024)

‘James is particularly good for claims where there is a cross-over with insolvency and fraud because of his experience with both. He has good judgement, is good on the law and is a fine advocate.’
- Legal 500 UK Bar (2024)

"James is able to turn things around with excellent speed."
- Chambers & Partners UK Bar (2024)

Practice Overview

James specialises in complex, high-value and international litigation and arbitration. His practice sees him instructed across a wide range of commercial disputes, often with a fraud, or insolvency aspect.

James is one of just five juniors ranked by Chambers and Partners in Band 1 for commercial dispute resolution, a position he now held for several years. He also holds rankings in the directories for civil fraud, insolvency, offshore commercial disputes and gambling disputes.

The directories have described him as “a future superstar”, “the A-team of the Bar”, “phenomenally bright; he’s someone who is constantly the smartest person in the room”, “really good on his feet, unflappable and at ease before the court”, “an impressive, assured advocate”, “meticulous and his turnover timing is absolutely amazing”, “incredibly responsive and a man who loves hard work”, “the complete package: incredibly sharp on matters of black letter law, experienced beyond his years on matters of strategy, a great team member and a real gent”, “super-responsive, friendly and a real team player”, “a pleasure to work with” and “very calm, reassuring to clients and just fantastic”.

Notable matters in which James has been recently instructed include:

Clifford Chance v Société Générale – acting for Clifford Chance in USD 484m claim in relation to its representation of Société Générale in proceedings in the Commercial Court
McAdam v Ignatova – acting for defendants alleged to have been party to a conspiracy with Ruja Ignatova, the so-called ‘Cryptoqueen’, to promote the OneCoin cryptocurrency in a group action brought by over 400 victims of the USD 4 billion fraud
RZ326019 Limited v Happy Lion Ventures – acting for the respondents to an appeal before the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal in the BVI in a dispute concerning a USD 1 billion acquisition of a Chinese property development company
Harrington & Charles Trading v Mehta – acting for the claimants in a claim to recover the proceeds of 1.2 billion fraud in relation to a precious metals facility advanced by a consortium of Indian banks
Ritchie v General Electric Company – acting for General Electric in proceedings in the Cayman Islands in relation to the USD 3.6 billion Ponzi scheme operated by Thomas Petters

James is a confident advocate and has appeared unled in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, often against experienced Leading Counsel. Led or unled, James enjoys working as part of a team to secure the best result for his client.

Much of James’ work has an international element and he regularly acts in litigation and arbitration in the BVI, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man and Hong Kong, amongst other jurisdictions. He is called to the Bar of the BVI and is a Registered Practitioner of the AIFC in Kazakhstan.

Commercial Dispute Resolution

James is ranked by Chambers and Partners as one of the top five leading juniors for commercial dispute resolution. He regularly acts in substantial commercial disputes of all kinds.