James Hilton

Trainee Solicitor
London

OVERVIEW

James is a trainee solicitor with experience in commercial, competition, and human rights and environmental disputes.

Expertise

James joined Hausfeld as an intern in December 2019 and commenced his training contract in March 2021. Since joining the firm, he has taken a particular interest in commercial and environmental matters, working on numerous high-profile cases across the firm’s practice areas, several of which have an international dimension.

He has gained experience of all stages of the litigation process and has supported case teams before, during and after trials. Consequently, he has played an integral role in preparing for court hearings and in settlement discussions from pre-action all the way through to post-trial disputes over costs.

Prior to joining Hausfeld, James undertook several legal work placements, including at Linklaters (Paris office), Kings Chambers and Pannone LLP. During this time, he gained exposure to employment, intellectual property, personal injury and clinical negligence law.

James can speak both French and Russian.

James has assisted the Hausfeld teams working on the following matters:
- Dr Philip Comberg v VivoPower International Services Limited and another: Acting for the Claimant in long-running proceedings issued in the Queen’s Bench Division against his former employer and its NASDAQ-listed parent for repudiatory breach of the Claimant’s service agreement and the breach of three other agreements entered into with the Defendants.
- Spanish Deposits: Assisting purchasers of off-plan homes in Spain who lost the deposit monies they had paid to Spanish developers when the financial crisis started in 2008 and the developers went bankrupt.
During his time at Hausfeld, James has been a member of the legal teams working on the following cases:
- MasterCard and Visa: Acting for merchant retailers in the renowned ‘interchange fees’ litigation in the High Court, relating to claims against Mastercard and Visa following interchange fees on both cross‐border and domestic transactions in 18 European countries. Hausfeld acted on behalf of over 1000 operating entities in 8 corporate groups.
- Trucks cartel litigation: Building claims for European truck purchasers allegedly harmed by the Trucks cartel - representing over 2,100 clients across Europe with a truck count of some 275,000 - and represented PSA Group as well as BMW in the automotive bearings. (FT Innovative Lawyers Winner 2018).
James has assisted with:
- ClientEarth Corporate Review: Conducted a review of the recent annual reports filed by the 250 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, to assess the extent to which the companies had considered climate change under existing reporting requirements.
- Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell: Acting for Corner House Research as two Nigerian communities and the Claimants in Okpabi claim to have suffered from the prolonged oil pollution caused by Shell’s operations in their territories and are seeking justice in England against Shell’s head company, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), headquartered in London.