James Noble

Practice Areas

Based in our Tier 1 ranked (Legal 500) Singapore office, James Noble TEP leads the litigation, insolvency and restructuring practice in Asia and the largest offshore litigation team in Singapore. James advises on Cayman, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Bermuda law, and is the only Cayman and BVI admitted (and Bermuda registered) litigator in Singapore.

A specialist in complex and high profile multi-jurisdictional litigation, asset recovery, cross-border enforcement and insolvency, James has over 20 years' experience working in a wide variety of commercial disputes, many of which involve multi-billion dollar claims.

James regularly acts in market leading cases, particularly in connection with listed companies and has specialist expertise in appellate matters in both the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council. He is often instructed to give expert evidence on Cayman or BVI law in onshore proceedings before the Singapore and Hong Kong Courts.

James' expertise and insights are regularly sought after by the industry. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences and panel discussions and was part of the Main Organising Committee of INSOL San Diego. James is also the author of the 2023 textbook, "Commercial Litigation and Enforcement", published by The Global Legal Post.

James is frequently recognised as one of the outstanding offshore litigators in Asia by market leading legal directories and publications. In particular, he is ranked consistently by Chambers Asia and is listed as a Leading Individual for the Offshore category in Singapore by The Legal 500 Asia. He has also been named in the Asian Legal Business (ALB) Offshore Client Choice List and as one of the Top Offshore Litigators in Asia in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In addition, James was recognised in the Top 50 Offshore Lawyers 2022 and 2024 by Asia Business Law Journal (ABLJ) as part of the publication's prestigious annual A-List series. James was also named as an expert in asset recovery by Who's Who Legal in its 2023 Southeast Asia guide. He was most recently recognised amongst premier online business news platform Business Today's Top 10 Influential Offshore Dispute Resolution Lawyers of Asia-Pacific for 2023.

Professional Memberships

James is a Fellow of INSOL International. He is also a registered foreign lawyer with the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). He is an active contributor to the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) and one of the first offshore law practitioners to be approved as a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore (IPAS). He is also a full TEP member of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Clients

Clients describe James as "quite simply the best of the best. James possesses that rare combination in a team leader of great legal insight, great leadership skills and a frightening eye for detail." He is also noted as "an outstanding team leader, able to integrate a high level awareness of his clients’ commercial objectives with an uncanny oversight of what the most junior associate, or busiest London silk, is doing to deliver the results needed for a positive outcome. Always calm in a tough and highly competitive environment."