James Bickford Smith

Practice Areas

Commercial, Commercial Chancery, Partnership & Employment law. In particular: 1) international commercial litigation (registered practitioner in DIFC) 2) litigation arising out of employment/fiduciary relationships 3) Partnership work (chair of Littleton Partnership Group) LLP 4) specialist work at interface of employment and chancery work 65 insolvency law.

2019/20 instructions have included 1) BNP Paribas SA V Trattamento Rifiuiti Metropolitani S.P.A, high-value international Swaps dispute in Court of Appeal and Commercial Court 2) Promontoria (Ram 2) Ltd v Nicoll, for secured lender in Chancery appeal re: £10.5m statutory demand and at subsequent full trial of Petition (against silk and junior) 3) for defendants in leading DIFC team move case (led by Tom Montagu-Smith KC) 4) for claimants in injunctive relief applications 5) for two companies in Chancery proceedings regarding shares and options of departed executives 6) test-case ET work 7) advising and acting for individual partners and groups of partners in cases involving both discrimination and classic partnership law.

Career

Called to Bar in 2008 as mature entrant. Double First Class Honours (Balliol College). Masters and Doctorate. Former Lecturer at Oxford University. Also studied at Ecole Normale Supérieure.

Professional Memberships

COMBAR, ELBA

Publications

Since 2012, columnist for the Practical Law Company, including “A Practical View From the Bar” and author of the main practice note on Injunctions.