James Wibberley

Barrister - Guildhall Chambers

James is a commercial specialist with experience of dealing with a wide range of disputes within the county court, High Court and Court of Appeal. He has a particular interest is cases that throw up novel or complex points of law and regularly deals with cases that straddle the divisions between his main practice areas.

James has twice appeared in the Supreme Court in Swynson Limited v Lowick Rose LLP [2017] UKSC 21 (professional negligence; assessment of damages) and Gavin Edmondson Solicitors Limited v Haven Insurance Co Limited [2018] UKSC 21 (costs; solicitor’s equitable lien). He is recommended in the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 legal directories in the fields of Commercial Dispute Resolution, Professional Negligence, and Costs and Litigation Funding.

James has a strong interest in all areas of costs and litigation funding. In addition to dealing with more conventional inter partes costs disputes such as drafting pleadings and attending detailed assessment hearings, James has experience of providing generic advice on the enforceability of funding arrangements. He is also regularly asked to advise on issues of coverage and indemnity relating to BTE and ATE insurance agreements.

There is a significant overlap between this area of James' practice and his wider commercial work. James is therefore ideally placed to advise on solicitor - own client disputes and professional negligence cases involving disputes around the advice given about funding arrangements and/or costs liability.

James has experience of wasted costs and non-party costs applications both in commercial (including applications for costs against directors of insolvent companies) and personal injury disputes. He also deals with disputes surrounding the costs of insolvency proceedings.