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.