James Goudkamp

James Goudkamp practises in all areas of commercial law although his principal interests are civil fraud, professional negligence and commercial tort law more generally. He regularly appears in the Commercial Court and has a growing appellate practice. He has made oral submissions in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

James is described in the legal directories as “incredibly hard-working, extremely knowledgeable and thorough”, “extraordinarily meticulous”, “very able”, “responsive and practical”, “a phenomenal source of knowledge”, “brilliant”, “fabulous” and as the person to go to “if you have a difficult point of law”.

The following are some illustrations of his recent work:

• Lewis-Ranwell v G4S Health Services (UK) Ltd [2026] UKSC 2; [2026] 2 WLR 187: James made oral submissions in the Supreme Court on behalf of the successful appellant. The appeal concerned the defence of illegality to a claim in the tort of negligence (led by Judith Ayling KC).
• Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd v Su [2025] EWCA Civ 1389: Successfully argued in the Court of Appeal that a Deputy High Court Judge had misunderstood and failed to follow binding Supreme Court authority regarding the Babanaft proviso to a worldwide freezing order (led by Stephen Phillips KC). Several factual findings of the Deputy Judge were also overturned on the basis that they were “plainly wrong”. The result was that judgment was entered against all of the Defendants for almost US$40 million. James made oral submissions as regards the Marex tort (i.e., the tort of intentionally inducing a violation of rights in a judgment debt).
• Berge Bulk Shipping Pte Ltd v Taumata Plantations Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 876: Appeared on behalf of the successful respondents in a challenge to the English court’s jurisdiction (led by David Bailey KC). The respondents had been sued on the basis that they were undisclosed principals to various letters of indemnity. Service of the claim form was set aside on the basis that there was no good arguable case that they were principals of the entity that had issued the letters of indemnity. The appeal raised issues regarding (i) the doctrine of agency; (ii) the doctrine of election; and (iii) whether the court has a residual discretion to set aside service even where permission to serve out of the jurisdiction is not required. James made oral submissions as regards the last of these points.
• AerCap Ireland Ltd v AIG Europe SA [2025] EWHC 1430 (Comm): Appeared on behalf of Swiss Re International SE in lessor insurance aviation claims in the Commercial Court arising out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in which in excess of US$5 billion was claimed in aggregate (led by Stephen Phillips KC). Swiss Re successfully argued that the loss of the aircraft in question had been caused by a war risk peril with the result that a lower indemnity applied.
• Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd v Su [2023] EWHC 1874 (Comm); [2024] 1 WLR 746: Successfully opposed a jurisdictional challenge (led by Stephen Phillips KC). The challenge concerned the test for intention in various economic torts, the tort, property and necessary or proper party gateways in CPR Practice Direction 6B and forum conveniens.
• Lakatamia Shipping Co v Su [2021] EWHC 1907 (Comm): Appeared for the successful claimant which obtained, following a four-week trial of claims for unlawful means conspiracy and the Marex tort, judgment for approximately US$40m (led by Stephen Phillips KC).
• Grenfell Tower disaster: Instructed on behalf of around 900 claimants who were victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster. James was led by Lord Hermer KC (now the Attorney General). The claims were settled for approximately £150 million.
• Begum v Maran (UK) Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 326; [2022] 1 All ER (Comm) 940: Appeared for the appellant in a case regarding shipbreaking work in Bangladesh (led by Robert Bright KC). The appeal concerned the duty of care element of the tort of negligence, limitation periods and applicable law. It succeeded on the issue of limitation subject to a point needing to be remitted to the High Court.
• Henderson v Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust [2020] UKSC; [2021] AC 563: This appeal to the Supreme Court concerned the illegality defence to a claim in tort. James appeared for the successful respondent (led by Angus Moon KC).
• Lakatamia Shipping Co v Morimoto [2019] EWCA Civ 2203; [2020] 2 All ER (Comm) 359: Appeared for the successful appellant in an appeal to the Court of Appeal following which a US$27m worldwide freezing order was restored (led by Stephen Phillips KC).
• Sakho v World-Anti Doping Agency: Acted for an elite professional footballer in a £16m professional negligence and defamation claim against an anti-doping authority (led by Richard Waller KC). The World Anti-Doping Agency gave Mr Sakho an apology in open court in which it said that the dispute had been settled and that it had paid “a substantial sum of damages”.
• Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd v Su [2019] EWHC 1145 (Comm); [2020] EWHC 314 (Comm) and [2021] EWHC 1929 (Comm): Appeared for the successful applicant in three sets of committal proceedings against a former billionaire in which custodial sentences of 21 months, 4 months and 24 months were imposed for breaches of freezing and other orders (led by Stephen Phillips KC). James also successfully opposed an appeal against the third of these sentences (Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd v Su [2021] EWCA Civ 1355; [2022] 4 WLR 2).
• Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd v Su [2021] EWCA Civ 1187: successfully opposed an appeal seeking the discharge of a passport order (led by Stephen Phillips KC).

James’s practice involves a mixture of work in which he is led and in which he is instructed as sole counsel. Alongside litigation, his practice extends to arbitration in insurance and shipping matters and involves a significant advisory element.

In addition to his busy practice, James is Professor of the Law of Obligations at the University of Oxford and is the author of almost 150 publications. His work is regularly cited by judges throughout the common law world (an illustration at the highest level is Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2018] UKSC 50; [2019] AC 831 at [23]), and James is widely regarded as a leading expert on tort law. Internationally recognised for his work in this regard, James is a member of the American Law Institute and served as an Advisor to the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons (the Restatement is the most important source of tort law in the United States). His writings address myriad topics including the duty and standard of care in the tort of negligence, the illegality defence, the law of contributory negligence (on which he has written two books) and the law of damages.

James’s numerous university qualifications are at the highest level. They include two master’s degrees and a doctorate, which he completed as a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College). James was awarded the University Medal in Law for placing first in his year in his undergraduate studies, which he completed in Australia. In 2005–2006, James was a judicial assistant to the Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, who was then a Justice of the High Court of Australia, which is Australia’s ultimate appellate and constitutional court. James is admitted as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

If you are interested in instructing James, please contact the clerks in order to ascertain his availability.