James Egan

James has a busy and successful traditional and commercial chancery, property and private client practice. Both in and out of Court, he is often commended for his attention to detail, focused legal analysis, and his persuasive written and oral advocacy. He takes a calm and considered view to all cases, combining his legal knowledge with practical, commercial advice. Whilst he is often recommended for his amicable and sensitive interaction with lay clients, he is not afraid to advise lay clients realistically about the prospects of success and financial implications of proceeding to trial. Notwithstanding, in Court, James is a robust litigator and does not shy away from pursuing a difficult argument.

Whilst James is regularly instructed in cases of all sizes and complexity, his expertise has led him to be instructed by a number of leading firms often in high value and complex cases. For example, in the recent reported case of Harbour Fund lll LP v Kazakhstan Kagazy Plc [2021] EWHC 1128 (Comm) James, led by Rupert D’Cruz QC, successfully defended Kazakhstan Kagazy JSC against numerous claims by Harbour Fund III LP in relation to a $300 million judgment obtained in early Kagazy v Zhunus litigation. This high value dispute spanned multiple areas of law including conflicts of laws (particularly the application and interpretation of Kazakh rehabilitation/insolvency law), alleged contractual variation and interpretation, alleged agency and authority issues, and alleged unjust enrichment/restitution. Mrs Justice Moulder found in favour of Kazakhstan Kagazy JSC on all issues in her 72-page judgment which can be viewed here.

James’s multi-disciplinary expertise means that many of his cases span multiple different areas of law, his practice largely focuses upon:

• Trusts, inheritance and probate matters
• Corporate and personal insolvency matters
• Property and residential/commercial landlord and tenant claims
• Court of Protection
• Commercial disputes
• Partnership and company disputes

James is also regularly instructed in cases brought by or against children and/or protected parties, and he is therefore very familiar with acting on behalf of or litigating against ‘litigation friends’ for children and protected parties (and consequently the procedures set out in Part 21 of the Civil Procedure Rules and/or Insolvency Rules 12.23-12.25). Having dealt with multiple such cases, James is experienced in adapting his approach sensitively to ensure the best and most appropriate handling of such cases.

Partnerships & LLPs

Recent Partnership experience includes:

• Advising individual members in relation to mergers, partnership exits, transfers of business and the dissolution of partnerships;
• advising on the construction of partnership and LLP agreements
• Advising on the conflicts of laws as to the appropriate jurisdiction to litigate a partnership dispute within;
• Drafting proceedings for declarations of the existence of a disputed partnership, its dissolution by notice, and consequently for all the usual accounts/inquiries to bring about the dissolution;
• Defending claims for an account in respect of winding up proceedings;
• Advising on and representing partners and partnerships in insolvency proceedings particularly in relation to the winding-up of insolvent partnerships (and concurrent bankruptcy petitions of individual partners) under the Insolvent Partnerships Order 1994, and/or the winding-up of LLPs under s.14 LLPA 2000 and the LLP Regulations 2001.