Bio
James has a broad commercial litigation practice, which includes contractual disputes, auditor and other professional negligence actions, director and officer liability disputes, regulatory proceedings and construction litigation. He has appeared as lead counsel and junior counsel before the Superior Court, the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal in Ontario.
James trained as a lawyer in the UK, including a Masters in Law at the University of Cambridge with a specialization in Commercial Law. Prior to joining TGF as an articling student, James worked for the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, lectured on effective speech at the University of Vermont and taught debate and public speaking with various charities, schools and universities.
James is known as a forward-thinking, creative and versatile lawyer, conversant in a range of complex commercial litigation matters and insolvency-related proceedings. His forensic approach to fact and document analysis is well-complemented by his previous industry experience, providing clients with a well-rounded perspective on commercial matters and guidance through their most difficult legal challenges. James’ inventive and resourceful advocacy is informed by years of litigation and public speaking experience.
James is an active member of the legal community. He is involved in the development of TGF’s thought leadership across a variety of legal topics, edits the TGF Topline newsletter, and he serves as a mentor to TGF’s students and early-career lawyers, in particular offering training on legal writing skills. James is also engaged in various committees with The Advocates Society, including the Young Advocates’ Standing Committee, with a focus on engagement with new and prospective members.
Representative Mandates:
As an associate at TGF, James has been part of a team representing clients in the following matters:
- Counsel to PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. in its capacity as receiver and manager of Bridging Finance Inc. and its related entities. This mandate involves maximizing returns for 26,000 investors in the context of alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars of investor funds.
- Worked with the TGF team as court-appointed counsel representing 630,000 policy holders in the demutualization of Economical Mutual Insurance Company. This was the first demutualization of a property and casualty company in Canada, and involved representing policy holders in negotiating the allocation of $2 billion in benefits among the policy holders.
- Counsel to a Big Four accounting firm in defence of two nine-figure auditor negligence claims.
- Court-appointed litigation counsel to the Litigation Trustee of Cash Store Financial Services Inc.
- Counsel on multiple private construction dispute processes and arbitrations.
- Counsel representing professionals in investigations initiated by professional regulatory bodies.
- Experienced in private international law disputes on behalf of clients in the UK, the US and the Caribbean.
- Experienced in managing and directing complex document review projects involving millions of documents, and with the use of e-Discovery software.
- 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 pursuing more than 30 lawsuits relating to failures to close on residential real estate transactions.
- Counsel to UK-based lender, managing recovery on a portfolio of loan investments.