We provide a wide range of advocacy and advisory services in the UK and internationally. We pride ourselves on our approachable and friendly outlook and our ability to build strong relationships with clients. Our barristers have received over 40 individual rankings covering 15 practice areas across the legal directories, including in Civil Fraud, Commercial Litigation, Insolvency and Travel amongst others. We are supported by a highly experienced, friendly and responsive clerking team, headed by James Donovan.
James has a broad commercial and public law practice in the UK and the Caribbean. He has appeared in the High Court and County Court of England and Wales, the Supreme Court of Barbados, and the Privy Council. He is particularly experienced in the areas of blockchain, economic sanctions, arbitration, and corporate governance.
Before joining the English Bar, James worked at commercial litigation firms in Trinidad and Barbados. He was also a judicial assistant to Lady Justice Asplin in the English Court of Appeal.
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James has significant experience advising blockchain companies. His work has covered claims to recover cryptoassets, advising on a US$20m public sale, a token generation event, the first private and decentralised launch of a decentralised finance protocol, governance of a DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation), the issuance of privacy tokens by software developers, the enforceability of SAFTs (simple agreements for future tokens), regulatory requirements under the UK’s AML/CTF regime, and more.
James has an extensive Caribbean practice, having worked on disputes arising out of Barbados, Trinidad, Antigua, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Bermuda, Bahamas, and others. As a holder of the Legal Education Certificate and a Barbadian citizen, James is entitled to be admitted to the Bars of several Caribbean countries to practise law generally (i.e. not for a particular case only). This gives him a rare advantage in terms of appearing before certain Caribbean courts as junior counsel.
International Commercial Arbitration
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Administrative and Constitutional Law
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James can accept instructions directly from members of the public, companies and other entities through the public access scheme (also known as direct access). If you wish to instruct him on a direct basis, please speak to the clerks.
For more information on public access, please see the Bar Council website.
Please contact us either by telephone: +44 (0)20 7415 7800 or email: clerks@3harecourt.com