James Fidler concentrates his practice on complex multijurisdictional civil litigation and investigations, with a particular focus on fraud, asset tracing, and judgment/award enforcement.
His recent experience includes: acting for an international bank in a major investigation of serious regulatory compliance breaches; assisting victims of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history to investigate the fraud and develop civil and criminal strategies to pursue the perpetrators; enforcing arbitral awards on behalf of a large multinational against award debtor assets in multiple jurisdictions, which has included obtaining worldwide freezing orders and receivership orders; acting for an Emirati bank in decade-long proceedings to enforce a large judgment against a prominent Emirati family, which has included fresh proceedings against several defendants for assisting judgment debtors to evade enforcement; preparing and implementing a recovery strategy for a listed company in the wake of a very significant fraud spanning approximately 30 jurisdictions, which involved obtaining search orders and freezing orders in courts throughout Asia and Europe, and which has resulted in the recovery of the majority of misappropriated funds; advising Arcadia Petroleum in US$330 million proceedings against former executives for various dishonesty-based claims; and representing the Bin Mahfouz family in its asset tracing investigation against Muhaned El-Rashid, in which worldwide freezing orders, search orders, and disclosure orders were obtained.
Experience
- BPP Law School, London (Legal Practice Course with distinction 2014; Graduate Diploma in Law with commendation 2013); University of Oxford (M.St. in Religious Studies 2012); University of Edinburgh (M.A. in Divinity with first class honours 2010)
- Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and Registered Foreign Lawyer (Singapore)
The Legal 500: twice named a "Next Generation Partner" for civil fraud (2025 and 2026) and twice as a "Rising Star" (2023 and 2024)
- French