James Brocklebank KC

James is recommended in Chambers & Partners in the following categories: Commercial Dispute Resolution; Professional Negligence and Insurance. In previous years he has been recommended in International Arbitration: General Commercial & Insurance and Energy & Natural Resources.

• “James is much on the client’s wavelength; he is very much understanding of what we want to achieve and is very clever.”
• “There is very little to fault with James; he is extremely acute in his thinking and so well prepared. On top of his material, James presents extremely well. He is not pushy but commands respect.”
• “He’s very strong on accounting and auditors’ claims. The default person to go to in order to make weaker arguments look very good.”

Professional Negligence, Chamber UK Bar 2025

• “James is a go-to silk for very complicated insurance coverage matters. He is very responsive and pleasant to work with.”
• “James is highly authoritative and considered. His judgement has always been correct and he is highly strategic on the fights that he picks versus what he lets go.”

International Arbitration: General Commercial & Insurance, Chamber UK Bar 2025

• “James is excellent at understanding complex technical legal arguments and explains them in a clear and concise manner.”
• “James provides well thought out and excellent advice. He is a pleasure to work with and is an outstanding advocate.”
• “James is very pleasant to work with. He is fully on top of the detail and brings thoughtful, commercial ideas to the table.”

Insurance, Chambers UK Bar 2025

• “Impressive in cross-examination and persuasive in his advocacy.”
• “James consistently impresses. He is sharp, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to matters, and is able to distil difficult legal issues into clear and persuasive submissions.”
• “He is extremely bright, very proactive and highly commercially minded.”
• “His advice is clear and pragmatic, and he is very good at finding a way through knotty problems.”
• “He is very polished and has a good way of presenting things.”

Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2025

• ‘He is very clever and responsive. He is an excellent advocate.’

Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2025

• ‘James is particularly excellent when it comes to understanding technical arguments and advocating his case clearly and persuasively in a way that is easy to understand. His cross examination is also excellent – sharp, clear, and to the point. He gets to the crux of the matter.’

Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2025

• ‘His work is first-rate, and he is super-sharp and very straightforward.’

Energy, Legal 500 2025

• “James has a keen eye for detail and is incredibly thorough and hard-working.”
• “He is incredibly smart, commercially savvy and very responsive.”
• “James is very user-friendly and very sharp. He produces advice that gives you the answers you need without building in complexity.”

Insurance, Chambers UK Bar 2024

• “James is first-class. He is very responsive, generates excellent strategic ideas and brings another level to the analysis.”
• “He is a very impressive advocate.”
• “James is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get into the detail.”

Professional Negligence, Chambers UK Bar 2024

• “James gets across the big picture and the detail. He is excellent on his feet and very user-friendly.”
• “A very clever and commercially minded KC.”

Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2024

• ‘James is an excellent advocate, who is able to handle difficult witnesses in a careful and considered way. He is completely on top of the detail of cases and thorough in his preparation, engaging with solicitors to test all areas of his argument – James is a standout KC.’

Commercial Litigation, Legal 500 2024

• ‘James is one of the first-choice silks. He is very bright, very hard working and always a pleasure to deal with.’

International Arbitration: Counsel, Legal 500 2024

• “He has excellent all-round skills for complex insurance dispute work.”
• “James is very able and intellectually rigorous.”
• “James is an excellent advocate in a complex case. He is fully in command of the detail, with an incisive intellect.”
• “James is brilliant to work with. His attention to detail and work ethic are both hugely impressive.”
• “James has a firm grasp of insurance principles.” “He is commercially savvy and articulate.” “His cross-examination and advocacy are sensational.” “He’s an absolutely brilliant barrister and very good to work with.” “Thorough, articulate and commercially savvy.”
• “He is superb, he doesn’t waste a word and has a very focused and precise cross-examination style.” “An effective advocate who does a great job for his clients.”
• “He is very clever and an excellent advocate.” “He is good at brokers’ negligence work: very careful, thorough, thoughtful and aggressive when he needs to be.”
• “A very forceful and persuasive advocate who has the ear of the court.” “He makes himself available at very short notice and shows excellent judgement.”
• “James Brocklebank engages in all aspects of a case, providing ongoing support to the solicitor team across a variety of issues.” “He’s really pleasant to deal with.”
• “Highly responsive, offering practical, commercial advice to clients, and very hard-working.” “Extraordinarily bright and very easy to work with.” “Very thorough and very user-friendly.”
• “A smart, diligent and thorough barrister who’s got very good judgement.” “He is clear, efficient, intelligent and thoughtful.”
• “James Brocklebank engages in all aspects of a case, providing ongoing support to the solicitor team across a variety of issues.” “He’s really pleasant to deal with.”
• “Incredibly useful, very understated, and quick and thorough in his advice.”
• “Incredibly hardworking and very bright.” “A great pleasure to work with.”
• “Very thorough. Quite a low-key advocate, who is top of his brief and has a firm hand on the details.” “His cross-examination was a model of clarity and brevity.”
• “Very bright, thorough and incisive. He is good at coming up with sensible solutions to complex issues.” “User-friendly and hard-working.”
• “He just sees things for what they are, and has a laser focus on what’s important.” “He’s very commercial and user-friendly, and his drafting is very precise.”
• “He is very bright, very quick and easy to deal with – all round excellent.”
• “He just sees things for what they are, and has a laser focus on what’s important.”
• “very commercial and user-friendly”
• “Very bright, thorough and incisive. He is good at coming up with sensible solutions to complex issues.”
• “He sets out his position with admirable clarity, giving us the certainty we need to handle complex matters effectively.”
• “unflappable in court.”
• “He is a frightening opponent.”
• “His cross-examination was a model of clarity and brevity.”
• “A great pleasure to work with.”
• “Incredibly useful, very understated, and quick and thorough in his advice.”
• “Incredibly thorough.”
• “James has an outstanding intellect. He is very diligent and commercial.”
• “He’s got a very good style, he’s very concise and he gets the ear of the judge.”
• “a tremendously talented practitioner.”
• “Gives realistic advice on the merits of a case at an early stage, is very commercial in his approach, and alert to potential pitfalls.”
• “He’s responsive, insightful, clever and very thorough.”
• “He’s incredibly intelligent, has a nice manner and possesses the ability to speak to people in a normal, human way.”
• “He is strikingly bright, has a superb legal analytical brain and is a pleasure to deal with.”
• “One of his key attributes is his capacity to grasp the issues across the entire spectrum of the case.”
• “An excellent lawyer – he is formidably bright, careful, and he has good drafting skills.”
• “He really knows his stuff and is very good on his feet.”
• “Phenomenally intelligent.”
• “… very responsive, very commercial and very user-friendly”
• “A very clever guy and a pleasure to work with.”
• “Personable, hardworking and commercial”
• “a tremendously clear thinker”
• “piercing intellect”
• “His drafting and his ability to articulate a case are second to none.”
• “a terrifically nice chap to work with.”
• “a lawyer of flexibility and intelligence”
• “His fast rise through the ranks is a reflection of his range of talents,”
• “absolutely superb, highly meticulous and very bright”
• “incredibly bright, and a committed team player who leaves no stone unturned.”
• “really punches above his weight”
• “outstanding.”
• “a definite star of the future.”

James is recommended in Legal 500 in the following categories: Professional negligence; Commercial Litigation; Insurance and Reinsurance and Energy.

• “James is incredibly bright but with an incredible work ethic. Drafting is a particular strength and clients comment on his excellent manner and clear explanations.”
• “Incredibly bright but with an incredible work ethic, his advocacy is clear and concise, and he is respected by his peers and judges alike.”
• “James is incredibly bright but with an incredible work ethic. Drafting is a particular strength and clients comment on his excellent manner and clear explanations. His advocacy is clear, concise and he’s well liked and respected by his peers and judges alike.”
• “Highly intelligent, very hard-working, an astute tactician, and extremely knowledgeable.” “Impressively on top of what factually-heavy cases, and distilling his advice clearly for foreign clients whose first language is not English. He is also tactically astute and a crisp advocate.”
• “He is highly impressive in his grasp of the issues and analysis, and his advocacy is clear and crisp.”
• “Highly impressive in his grasp of the issues and analysis of the same – his advocacy is similarly clear and crisp.”
• “Super clever with a laser focus on the detail. Happy to roll his sleeves up as well.”
• “Proved invaluable in countering others with far greater financial resources.”
• “An excellent strategic thinker with first-class legal knowledge; very good on paper and on his feet.”
• “His advice is always well-thought through and is delivered in a timely fashion.”
• “He is very thorough..”
• “Analytical and tactically astute; has invaluable in-depth legal knowledge.”
• “A stickler for detail and personable – a QC for good reason.”
• “Sees the big picture and provides well planned strategic advice.”
• “Analytical and tactically astute; has invaluable in-depth legal knowledge.”
• “Sees the big picture and provides well planned strategic advice.”
• “A QC for good reason.”
• “An insightful strategist with great attention to detail.”
• “First-rate.”
• “A real talent.”
• “He gives realistic advice on merit and never loses sight of clients’ commercial goals.”
• “A compelling advocate, who is fully on top of the facts.”
• “Always in control of the case.”
• “He is assiduous, has good eye for detail, and is aware of how the court will react.”
• “He produces excellent paperwork and is an appealing advocate.”
• “Very clever and good draftsman of complex court documents.”
• “He is very bright, good on his feet and also an excellent team player.”
• “excellent analytical skills and great intellect”