James Guthrie QC specialises in a broad range of appellate work in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This includes constitutional, commercial, common law and criminal cases. He has considerable experience of litigation in Commonwealth jurisdictions, both in an advisory capacity and as an advocate, and has been called to the Bars of the Turks and Caicos Islands, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, St Christopher & Nevis, Grenada, Bermuda, Belize and Antigua. He has also recently appeared by special permission in the Court of Appeal of Mauritius. He appeared before the Privy Council at its first sittings in the Bahamas, and when it sat for the first time in Mauritius.
Described in the directories as a 'first-class advocate', his practice comprises a broad range of general commercial and common law work, including arbitrations. He has great experience of judicial review and group litigation, and the law relating to elections, particularly in the Caribbean context (including a number of judicial review applications and constitutional motions before the local courts).
Consistently recommended in the main law directories as a Leading Silk in Civil Liberties and Human Rights work, he frequently undertakes Privy Council appeals in such cases, including ‘death row’ cases. His human rights work includes references to the various international bodies, including the United Nations and Inter- American Commissions.
James Guthrie was Head of Chambers from 2002 until October 2010. He continues to practise from Chambers. He was a Recorder trying criminal and civil cases. He is a Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple and has been a Trustee of the Death Penalty Project since its inception in 2005.
LCLCBA.
BA (Modern History) Worcester College,Oxford