James joined the ANU College of Law as a lecturer in 2022. Before this he was a Project Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo (2015-2020) and Associate Professor at Sophia University (2020-2022), where he remains a Visiting Lecturer. He has also held visiting academic positions at Meiji University and Waseda University in Tokyo.
James primarily works at the intersection of equity, comparative private law, and Japanese legal studies, while maintaining secondary research profiles in applied jurisprudence, comparative legal theory, law and sexuality, and law and the humanities (with a substantive focus on contemporary Japanese culture).
His published scholarship in doctrinal private law appears in leading generalist and specialist journals (such as the Modern Law Review, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Modern Studies in Property Law and The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer) and has been cited by courts of final appeal in New Zealand and Singapore and by Parliamentary law reform commissions in the United Kingdom. He is the author of forthcoming monographs Law and Literature in Japan (forthcoming 2023) and Civilising the Trust: The Japanese Trust as Legal Transplant (in preparation).
James is a co-Convenor of the Australian Network for Japanese Law and coaches the Australian national team for the Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition held annually in Tokyo. He is also the ANU College of Law's Director of Moots & Competitions.
Appointments
- Visiting Lecturer: Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan) (2022 - )
- Director of Moots and Competitions: ANU College of Law (2022 - )
- Board Member (Linkages and Engagements Advisory Group): American Society of Comparative Law, Younger Comparativists’ Committee (2017 - 2019)
- Academic Board Member: National Association of Licensed Paralegals (UK) (2015 - 2018)
Significant research publications
- Japanese Law and Literature (forthcoming 2023, Routledge)
- ‘Gray areas in tort: Illegality and authority after Patel v Mirza’ (2021) 84(5) Modern Law Review 1122
- “Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from Japan” in Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 10 (2019, Hart Publishing)
- Contract Law in England and Wales (2018, Wolters Kluwer)
- “The trust as Trojan Horse: A comparative perspective on trusts’ role in Japanese succession law” (2018) 103 Iowa Law Review 1945
Consultancies
- Consultant (Legal Education Reform): Japanese Judicial Scriveners’ Association (2015 - 2018)
Books & edited collections
- Making Trusts Civilised (in preparation)
- Japanese Law and Literature (with Giorgio Fabio Colombo) (Routledge, forthcoming 2023)
- Contract Law in England & Wales (Wolters Kluwer, 2018)
Refereed journal articles
- ‘“All I can do is ask”: COVID-19, lockdowns without law, and constitutionalism in Japan’ [2021] Public Law 251
- “The trust as Trojan Horse: A comparative perspective on trusts’ role in Japanese succession law” (2018) 103 Iowa Law Review 1945
- “The Constitution, international law and the rights of foreigners in Japan” (2015) 39 Journal of Japanese Law 109
- “Uncertainty, opportunism and the intermediate term: The Hong Kong Fir principle in English and Irish contract law” (2015) 14 Hibernian Law Journal 96
Book chapters
- “Invisible walls: Form and freedom in coded space” in Dale Mitchell et al. (eds), Cultural Legalities of Video Games (Routledge, forthcoming 2023)
- “Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from Japan” in Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 10 (2019, Hart Publishing)
- “The quasi-Constitutionality of non-statutory norms: executive Constitutional interpretation in Japanese law” in Richard Albert and Joel Colon-Rios (eds), Quasi-Constitutionality and Constitutional Statutes: Forms, Functions, Applications (2019, Routledge)
- “Pirates, Giants and the State: Legal Authority in Manga and Anime” in Ashley Pearson et al. (eds), Law and Justice in Japanese Popular Culture (2018, Routledge)
- “Rethinking the rules for the proprietary effect of freehold covenants” in Robin Hickey and Heather Conway (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 9 (2017, Hart Publishing)
Conference papers & presentations
- “The (incomplete) civilisation of English law: the illegality rule, inside and out”: Obligations X, Western Law School, Canada (upcoming July 2023)
- “Public policy in private law: The ‘Civilisation’ of English law”: Twentieth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Kyūshū University, 2018
- “Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from the trust in Japan”: Modern Studies in Property Law, University College London, 2018
- “Administrative Law in Japan: Politics, Culture and the Rule of Virtuous Men”: Law, Society and Administration in a Changing World, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 2017
- “Making trusts civilised: War, revolution and the English trust in Japan”: Obligations XIII, University of Cambridge, 2016
- “Two Quasi-Constitutional Norms in Japan”: International Symposium on Quasi-Constitutionality, Victoria University Wellington, 2016
Case notes & book reviews
- “Gray areas in tort: Illegality and authority after Patel v Mirza” (2021) 84 Modern Law Review 1122
- “The ‘one man company’ after Patel v Mirza: attribution and illegality in Singularis Holdings v Daiwa Capital Markets” (2020) 71 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 387
- “Contract variation in the common law: A critical response to Rock Advertising v MWB Business Exchange” (2018) 47 Common Law World Review 196
- “Rearticulating the rule against penalty clauses” [2016] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 169
- “The ex turpi causa principle in Hounga and Servier” (2015) 78 Modern Law Review 854
Currently supervising
- Abdul Mu’iz Abdul Razak
Topic: Developing a Legal Framework for Third-Party Funding in International Commercial Arbitration in Malaysia
- Rosemary Listing
Topic: Reconceptualising the Reasonableness Standard: Strict Product Liability and Medical Device Failure
PhD supervision
Currently supervising:
- Abdul Mu’iz Abdul Razak, 'Third Party Funding in Arbitration for Contractual Construction Disputes in Malaysia' (Primary Supervisor)
- Rosemary Listing, 'Reconceptualising the Reasonableness Standard: Strict Product Liability and Medical Device Failure' (Panel Member)
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- Australian and comparative private law (contract, tort, equity & trusts)
- Comparative law/legal theory
- Japanese legal studies
- Law and literature
