Paul James joins Red Kite Law as head of Company and Commercial wing

by Robert Lloyd

Pembrokeshire-born Paul James has joined Red Kite Law as head of the Company and Commercial wing.

Mr James previously worked for Eversheds in Cardiff and will be bringing his experience into play to help businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Mr James’ clients at Red Kite Law include Ceredigion County Council, the giant Valero Pembroke refinery and a wide range of SMEs in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

“I am very much a ‘can do’ lawyer,” said Mr James. “I enjoy learning how businesses tick and helping corporate clients achieve their aims and objectives.

“The Company and Commercial wing of Red Kite Law is a very busy operation and I am enjoying applying my skills to the benefit of our commercial and corporate clients.”

Red Kite Law partner David Sangster said he was delighted to welcome Mr James to the firm.

“We are a very forward thinking business here at Red Kite Law. We care passionately about our local communities and it is great to have someone like Paul James on board. His local knowledge will be vital as we continue to build our Company and Commercial wing.”

Mr James, 31, completed his training contract with Eversheds in Cardiff in

2007 and qualified into the Company Commercial Practice Group.

He has advised on a wide range of commercial contracts, intellectual property and IT matters, as well as corporate issues.

In the past, his client list has included John Lewis, Rolls-Royce, Legal & General, Barclays, Admiral Group PLC, Sony Ericsson and GlaxoSmithKline.

His achievements include –

• advising Legal & General and a number of other clients on their services agreements, marketing agreements and affinity agreements;
• drafting agency and distribution agreements for clients such as ScanSource Inc;
• drafting standard terms and conditions of sale and purchase for companies such as Stena Line Limited, Gruma and CastleOak Limited;
• advising John Lewis on a number of marketing and sales agreements;
• advising on framework agreements in the context of IT applications including for Careers Wales Association;
• advising Carmarthenshire County Council in relation to their Property Development Fund, which provides assistance for the speculative development of buildings for industrial / commercial use;
• drafting intellectual property policies for various educational institutions including Pembrokeshire College.

His public sector clients have included the Welsh Government, the Forestry Commission, the Highways Agency and the DVLA. For the DVLA, he acted as the lead advisor in advising the agency on their £300 million card consumables procurement.

Mr James added: “I believe in helping clients and as such have spoken at many national training events and tailored client training. I can provide public procurement sessions on: competitive dialogue, framework agreements and shared services as well as delivering tailored commercial contracts training sessions to private sector in-house legal teams or commercial managers.

“As well as continuing to provide commercial and public procurement support to clients (including SMEs), I also specialise in corporate support work including assisting clients with buying and selling business and other general corporate issues.

“I am very excited about being a part of the Red Kite Law team and am looking forward to working with the business clients of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire to deliver effective commercial solutions”.