James Williams

Practice Areas

James practices in three core areas: group actions (in particular in product liability and industrial disease cases); general commercial law; and employment.

Recent high-profile instructions include: the VW Vehicle Emissions litigation; the ongoing Nissan Vehicle Emissions litigation; the Seroxat product liability group litigation; the Cape v Dring litigation concerning non-party access to documents used in court, which reached the Supreme Court in February 2019; and the British Coal Coke Oven Workers group Litigation. He has also been acting for a major pharmaceutical company on inquests and civil claims in relation to its Covid-19 vaccine.

Before coming to the bar, James spent two years as an associate solicitor in the corporate group at Slaughter and May. He was then a Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal for two terms in 2010, where he assisted Arden LJ, before starting pupillage.

James maintains a broad employment practice acting for both Claimants and Respondents. He has wide experience of all aspects of statutory employment work including employment status, unfair dismissal, TUPE, discrimination, redundancy and whistleblowing. He appears frequently in the Employment Tribunal and EAT. He is also experienced in employment and business protection litigation in the civil courts involving employee competition, confidential information, wrongful dismissal and restrictive covenants.

James has a particular interest in the law of working time and worker status, and acted as sole counsel for the claimant throughout one of the most significant cases on holiday pay to reach the ECJ in recent years: King v Sash Window Workshop Ltd C-214/16. The case is particularly relevant to the growing number of cases where the worker (like Mr King) is miscategorised during the employment relationship as self-employed and thus not paid any holiday pay. The case was described as a “bombshell judgment” and is of fundamental importance to workers’ rights in the gig economy. James remains one of the leading juniors at the bar in the field of holiday pay. He is acting for the Claimant in the ongoing Main v Spadental litigation, currently pending before the EAT for the second time and raising important points regarding the post-Brexit approach to holiday pay claims.

Helped by his experience in group actions and personal injury, particularly industrial disease, James is also familiar with the law of employer’s liability, health and safety and workplace injury claims. His commercial background means he is also happy to advise in employment disputes with a commercial dimension such as unfair prejudice claims, TUPE issues in an M&A context and bonus cases.

James was Junior Counsel to the Crown (C Panel) from 2014 – 2019 and was appointed to the B Panel in 2021. He has acted for government departments and agencies in a large range of matters including industrial disease, inquests and employment.

Career

Qualified as a solicitor 2008; Called 2010, Inner Temple; Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal (Arden LJ) in 2010; Junior Counsel to the Crown 2014-19 and 2021-date.