Prior to joining the firm as a trainee, James worked as a paralegal at the UK Serious Fraud Office on a £100 million deferred prosecution agreement and the successful individual prosecutions of several company executives.

James received a first-class honours degree in Law and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin (LL.B. (Pol.Sc.)). He also holds a Masters degree in Law and Economics awarded mutually by the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the University of Hamburg and the IGIDR in Mumbai, India, at which he spent a six-month term.