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James is a higher education and employment lawyer at Taylor Vinters, a law firm specialising in research and innovation.
He graduated from the University of Oxford in 2010 with first class honours and an exhibition in Literae Humaniores, before completing the GDL and LPC (both with distinction) in Manchester and London respectively.
Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus
As a Senior Associate, he has developed a particular expertise on the law around academic freedom and free speech on campus, on which he has advised institutions, academics, think tanks and Government.
He has published multiple articles on that topic (which can be found here), including submissions of evidence to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of expression, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (twice), and the House of Commons Public Bill Committee in relation to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (both individually and in collaboration with English PEN, one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations).
In relation to the Bill, he has also spoken with Government lawyers and policy makers about the Bill while it was being drafted to contribute his expertise. He is now working with law makers in the House of Commons and House of Lords on amendments to the Bill and so is having an opportunity to influence how it is shaped through the legislative process. His evidence is recorded in Hansard, having been cited by the Public Bill Committee during public deliberations.
Prior to the Bill being drawn up, James contributed to the paper of the think tank Policy Exchange, which formed the basis for the Bill. He has also worked with academics at the University of Oxford’s McDonald Centre on academic freedom.
He is also an honorary Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham with a focus on the law around academic freedom. In conjunction with the Humanities Research Institute at Buckingham, he has convened and spoke at an academic conference on the topic of academic freedom, which brought together leading thinkers in academia, journalism, politics and the law.
On academic freedom and the Bill, he has spoken at the Westminster Higher Education Policy Forum (soon to be twice), twice at the Institute of Ideas’ Battle of Ideas festival, and twice been interviewed on Talk Radio.
He has also been quoted on academic freedom in The Times and Times Higher Education, and by the CIEO think tank.
Employment
James also specialises in advising on all aspects of domestic and international employment law and practice
He advises a wide range of clients on a mixture of contentious and non-contentious matters, both in the UK and across the globe. His expertise includes supporting clients on:
- multi-jurisdictional projects and international employment issues;
- employment contracts, consultancy and service agreements, and settlement agreements;
- employment litigation (including the defence of unfair dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing claims);
- business restructuring and redundancies;
- restrictive covenants, confidentiality issues and team moves;
- data protection issues; and
- day to day HR management.
He can distil complex legal issues into easily understandable advice and provide commercial and pragmatic guidance to your business.
Professional bodies and associations
- Member of the Employment Lawyers Association and Industrial Law Society