Director, Customer Success and Engagement

Exec Sponsor, Rule of Law and CSR

James works for LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information, technology and analytics, and is based in their London office.  He joined LN in 2012 as its UK General Counsel and was promoted to its board 2 years later.  In 2015, James also took on responsibility for leading the UK Rule of Law and CSR programmes.  He is currently on secondment in a business role, as the Director of Customer Success and Engagement.  

In addition to his duties as UK General Counsel, James also led the legal function for LexisNexis South Africa and for regulatory media organisation MLex after its acquisition in 2015.

In line with a personal passion for access to justice, James leads LexisNexis’s work in the UK on advancing the Rule of Law, with a focus on supporting digitisation in the free legal advice community.  He also heads up the UK CSR programme, encouraging employee volunteering and giving, making a positive impact on society and the communities around us.

In his current role, James runs a team of c.40 individuals that sit at the front-line of our business, ensuring customers get the most value from our products and future customers can make informed and objective decisions when moving to services and tools within our product portfolio.

James began his career in private practice (at SJ Berwin), specialising in contracts, IP, IT, outsourcing and other commercial matters, before moving in-house to investment bank Barclays Capital in 2010. 

Away from the office, James is a Trustee for the London Legal Support Trust, an Officer of the International Bar Association, and an FA Level 1 Football Coach.

Amy leads the thought leadership and content strategy for LexisNexis UK. Her work appears in LexisNexis' marketing campaigns, industry press and legal industry magazines. She is an established writer and researcher, having contributed in national publications, such as City A.M. and Financial IT. She is also one of the writers and digital editors of LexisNexis' insights blogs, the Future of Law and the In-house blog.

Maria Isabel (‘Marie’) Manley leads Sidley Austin’s Life Sciences team in London and is a distinguished thought leader and adviser on EU and UK regulatory law. She represents development-stage and established global life sciences companies in a broad spectrum of matters, both contentious and non-contentious. Marie advises clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices, chemicals, cosmetics and food sectors in proceedings before both national and European courts and the regulatory agencies in the UK and across Europe. She has particular experience on issues arising during the life cycle of medicinal products, including IP, advertising, product liability and competition.

James is an arbitration specialist. He has more than 25 years’ experience of ad hoc, trade association, institutional and investment arbitrations as a solicitor in London and Paris, as a former Registrar of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and as a case assessor for legal costs insurers and third party funders. His background as a lawyer is in international trade, commodities, shipping and insurance.

He trained at Withers in London and then spent four years in the firm’s Paris office. He was admitted as an avocat at the Paris bar (1994 – 2008). Returning to London, he spent more than 13 years at Holman Fenwick Willan in its Trade & Energy group. As Registrar and Deputy Director General of the LCIA in 2008 – 2012, he oversaw the administration of more than a thousand commercial arbitrations and assisted with a review of its Arbitration Rules. He subsequently spent two years at Thomas Miller Legal, assessing and managing a wide range of commercial and investment claims on behalf of insurers and funders. Returning to private practice in 2015, he spent a year in Stephenson Harwood’s International Arbitration group where he assisted on ICC and LCIA arbitrations, principally oil and gas disputes.

James is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. At LexisNexis, James works on the Lexis®PSL Arbitration module.

Violet is an editor at LexisNexis, with previous experience in both the legal sector and in journalism. She graduated in 2019 with an English and French degree, and now commissions case analysis content across 35 practice areas for LexisPSL. She has a particular interest in writing about international trade, and environmental law.