James Drake QC is an experienced advocate and arbitrator, admitted in London, New York and Australia.

As counsel, James specialises in all areas of commercial law, in court and in international and domestic arbitration, with particular emphasis on contractual disputes of all kinds including: aircraft and ship sales; commercial fraud; commodities; distributorship/ franchise; insurance and reinsurance; international trade; partnership; sport; and all related interlocutory and jurisdictional issues.  James has appeared in courts and before arbitral tribunals in London, Sydney, New York, BVI, Antigua and Bermuda and maintains rights of audience in these jurisdictions.

As arbitrator, James is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA), and a chartered arbitrator and has extensive experience in both domestic and international arbitrations (whether as sole or co-arbitrator or chairman) under the auspices of the LCIA, the ICC and the CIArb, and in ad  hoc arbitrations.  James is also a member  of  various  panels  of  arbitrators,  including  the CIArb’s Presidential Panel, ACICA, ARIAS (UK), AMTAC, KLRCA. James has been appointed to the panel of arbitrator to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Before coming to London, James was a partner in a New York commercial litigation firm and a lawyer with an international firm in New York and Sydney.  James moved to the London Bar in 1998, joining 7KBW as a pupil, and took silk in 2011.

James has often been called upon to provide expert evidence as to matters of English law, more often than not for US proceedings and has also been appointed by the Lord Chancellor as an examiner of the court. James  is  a  visiting  lecturer  at  the  University  of  Adelaide  Law  School, teaching  International  Commercial Arbitration.