James Popperwell Partner
James is head of the firm’s fraud practice. He specialises in asset tracing and enforcement and the management of complex, international disputes in state courts and arbitration. As well as running disputes at all levels of the English courts, James has significant experience in managing parallel proceedings in different jurisdictions.
James has over 19 years of experience acting on disputes relating to Russia, Ukraine and the CIS and has represented clients from these regions in various courts across the world, including in the Eastern Caribbean, the Channel Islands, Cyprus and Hong Kong, as well as in ICC, LCIA and VIAC arbitrations. James has significant experience of obtaining and defending interim injunctive relief in support of proceedings in England and elsewhere.
James also advises on corporate and shareholder disputes (including in relation to companies incorporated overseas), bribery and corruption, sanctions, money laundering and insolvency proceedings. He is often asked to represent overseas clients in jurisdictional challenges in England and has done so on the basis of diplomatic and sovereign immunity as well as the more traditional grounds.
James combines his fraud expertise with an intricate knowledge of litigation funding in all its forms. James has advised litigation funders on structuring some of the most innovative funding arrangements in recent years. James is a contributing author to the Law Society’s Handbook on Litigation Funding and a regular speaker on funding issues.
James is qualified to act as an independent supervising solicitor on search orders.
James is a partner champion of our Balance network, a forum providing networking and peer support for all staff managing careers and home lives, to achieve a sustainable work-life balance.
Professional memberships
- Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association (CFLA)
- Commercial Litigators’ Forum (CLF)
- Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
- London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)