James Smith

Year of Call:
2022
Direct Access:
No
james.smith@outertemple.com Email
+44 (0)20 7353 6381
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    James Smith has a busy commercial and civil practice which covers commercial litigation, international arbitration, insolvency and company, private client, sanctions, and financial services.

    Much of James’ work is as part of teams of counsel in complex, high-value disputes. In addition, he often appears as sole counsel in trials, interim application hearings, and preliminary hearings.

    Recent experience as junior counsel includes:

    • Acting for the defendant in relation to a challenge to a will registered in the DIFC (led by David Russell KC). This case is believed to be the first of its kind in the DIFC.
    • Obtaining urgent freezing and interim proprietary injunctions in connection with a substantial ongoing civil fraud claim (led by Henry Reid).
    • Acting in a USD $20 million claim under a directors’ & officers’ insurance policy brought in the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (led by David Russell KC and Clare Baker).

    James taught law at the London School of Economics and was awarded two scholarships for the Bar Course by Gray’s Inn. He achieved a Distinction on his LLM in International Commercial Law at University College London, coming top of his year in Company Law. In addition, he received a First Class LLB from the University of Warwick, where he was president of the law society.

    Before joining Chambers, James was a trainee at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, where he worked on a range of defence and security issues related to the war in Ukraine. He also wrote speeches for the then-Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg.

    James is a contributor to the forthcoming edition of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery and Corruption.

    Expertise

    Notable Commercial cases

    • Acting in a USD $20 million claim under a directors’ & officers’ insurance policy brought in the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (led by David Russell KC and Clare Baker).
    • Acting in the two-day trial of a professional negligence claim (as sole counsel).
    • Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of a multinational company (as sole counsel).
    • Advising a major United Kingdom construction company on the merits of bringing arbitration proceedings against a sub-contractor (as sole counsel).
    • Advising on the merits of resisting the enforcement of an Estonian judgment in England & Wales (led by Joshua Ray).
    • Advising on methods of enforcing a Swiss judgment in England & Wales under the Lugano Convention (as a pupil).

    Notable Civil Fraud & Asset Recovery cases

    • Obtaining a freezing injunction and interim proprietary injunction in connection with a substantial ongoing civil fraud claim (led by Henry Reid).
    • Drafting a skeleton argument for the Court of Appeal hearing in FS Capital & Ors v Adams & Ors [2025] EWCA 53, addressing whether as a matter of Jersey law the exercise of a power for an improper purpose was void or voidable (as a pupil).

    Having previously published in Trust Law International, Trusts & Trustees, and taught trusts law to undergraduates at the London School of Economics, James is well-placed to assist in a wide range of private client, wills and probate-related matters.

    Notable Private Client cases

    • Advising on the merits of various applications to remove executors, including where executors have lost capacity, co-executors have fallen out, and where an executor has failed to progress the administration of an estate.
    • Assisting a supervisor with trial preparation for Rahman v Hassan & Ors [2024] EWHC 1290 (Ch), the first reported case to consider whether registered land can be the subject of a deathbed gift (as a pupil).
    • Assisting a supervisor with preparation for Re WCC Henchley Trust [2024] EWHC 607 (Ch), an application to approve and settle an account in common form (as a pupil).
    • Advising as to the strategy to remove deputies in a contentious Court of Protection matter (as sole counsel).

    Much of James’ work has a Middle East element. He is currently junior counsel in proceedings before the DIFC Court of First Instance, and has previously acted before the Dubai International Arbitration Centre.

    James has a deep interest in sanctions. He is currently instructed by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to advise on sanctions enforcement in several high-value cases. He has experience advising companies and individuals on the application of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

    James has given talks on sanctions to the Isle of Man Bar Society, and written about sanctions for the Journal of International Banking and Financial Law and Trusts & Trustees. Recently, he completed a course on sanctions law at Utrecht University.

    Notable Insolvency & Company cases

    • Advising the liquidators of a company in relation to sums retained by a purchaser under an asset purchase agreement (as sole counsel).
    • Obtaining a bankruptcy order in a hearing in the High Court (as sole counsel).
    • Obtaining an injunction in the High Court restraining creditors from presenting a winding-up petition (as sole counsel).
    • Assisting companies in various claims for the rectification of the Register of Companies (as sole counsel).
    • Assisting a company in a claim for late registration of a mortgage with Companies House (as sole counsel).
    • Drafting particulars of claim for the dissolution of a partnership at will (as sole counsel).

    Notable Pensions & Employment cases

    • Advising a high-profile member of a pension scheme in relation to a claim for the over-payment of benefits by a trade union pension scheme (as sole counsel).
    • Advising a prominent trade union on its statutory obligations to auto-enrol staff into the union’s pension scheme (as sole counsel).
    • Advising a public body following mistaken over- and under-payments of benefits by a public sector pension scheme (as a pupil).
    • Advising the trustees of a private sector pension scheme on whether deeds of amendment had been validly executed (as a pupil).
    • Advising a franchisee on the effect of a post-termination restrictive covenant in a franchise agreement (as a pupil).

    Notable Property cases

    • Successfully appealing a decision of a district judge who had erred in an equitable accounting exercise relating to the ownership of jointly-owned property (as sole counsel).
    • Appearing before a circuit judge in an appeal under s 204 of the Housing Act 1996 (as sole counsel).
    • Assisting a bankrupt to resist an application for an order for possession and sale of the family home.
    • Drafting particulars of claim and defences in various proprietary estoppel claims (as a pupil).
    • Advising on an appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Property) Chamber in a claim for rectification of the Land Register (as a pupil).
    • Drafting a letter of claim for an order for the sale of jointly-owned property where one co-owner is in possession (as a pupil).

    Notable Financial Services cases

    • Advising on the nature and scope of guarantee obligations under an ISDA Master Agreement (led by Sophie O’Sullivan).

    Related updates

    To find out more, contact Matt Sale on +44 (0)20 7427 4910 or Ellie Barra on +44 (0)20 7353 6381 for a confidential discussion.

    • Attorney General’s Junior Junior Scheme.
    • London Bar Association.
    • Chancery Bar Association.

    • PgDip (Bar Vocational Studies), City, University of London: Distinction.
    • LLM (International Commercial Law), University College London: Distinction (top of year in Company Law).
    • LLB, University of Warwick: First Class (third in year, President of Warwick Law Society).

    • James Smith, “Proportionality in UK sanctions law: Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs [2025] UKSC 30” (2025) 10 Journal of International Banking & Financial Law, 672.
    • James Smith, “Russia sanctions and the prohibition on trust services” (2025) 31 Trust & Trustees, 1-5.
    • James Smith, “Rethinking the role of settlor intent in the variation of trusts: was the 1958 Act an unfinished revolution?” (2022) 35(4) Trust Law International 246-264.

    • Goldie Scholarship – Gray’s Inn.
    • Residential Scholarship – Gray’s Inn.
    • Academic Excellence Scholarship – City, University of London.
    • Bar Vocational Studies Scholarship – City, University of London.

    • Trainee, NATO Headquarters.
    • Guest Teacher, London School of Economics.

    Read James’ privacy policy here.

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