James Watson is Watson Woodhouse’s Chairman and Head of Special Case Work. For over three decades James has successfully grown Watson Woodhouse from a small criminal defence practice to make it the leading multi-specialist solicitor in Teesside, Durham and North Yorkshire.

As a very highly regarded and much sought after criminal defence solicitor, James works nationally and internationally, specialising in white collar and cyber fraud cases.

James graduated from Newcastle University in 1979 and from Guildford College of Law in 1979.  He qualified as a solicitor in 1982 and has since then devoted his career to providing access to justice to individuals who are in conflict with the State.  His first major case was in Housing Law, acting for the defendants in Redcar Borough Council v Boase and others, 1984 – 1986, a High Court challenge to a local authority seeking to forcibly evict its tenants in order to block privatise lucrative parts of its housing stock.  The case was of national significance and won for the defendants on the technical basis of inadequate consultation.  It was the subject of broad national debate and Parliamentary scrutiny, and resulted in tenants being given important additional rights in the Housing Act 1988.  James represented many families who lost children in the Cleveland Sexual Abuse scandal of 1987, successfully securing the return of all the children following contested High Court proceedings.  He worked closely with Sir Stuart Bell MP in the process that led to his private members bill becoming the Children Act 1989, a major piece of legislation reforming the law relating to children.  He secured acquittals in a sequence of murder trials during this period.

In 1990, he founded the firm that became Watson Woodhouse in order to establish a specialised practice providing access to justice to the individual, regardless of means and across all areas of law.  He brought with him specialists in Family Law, Housing Law, Criminal Law, and High Court Judicial Review.

He gained acquittals throughout the 1980s on a number of domestic murders.  During the 1990s he secured acquittals for all defendants in a sequence of “gangland” trials involving the murders of Kevin ‘Rico’ Richardson, Lee Duffy and Lee King.  From 1997 – 2000 he was centrally involved in exposing the “drugs for confessions” scandal at Cleveland Police, overturning the conviction of MC in the Court of Appeal and leading to Operation Lancet.  Between 2000 – 2003 he represented 7 defendants in the notorious Operation Imago trial, which culminated in a 9-month pre-trial hearing examining allegations of serious malpractice involving senior police officers and which resulted in the indictment being stayed against all defendants.  Between 2003 and 2008 he was involved in a string of alleged drug conspiracy cases in which all defendants were acquitted, concluding with the case of R v BT at Newcastle Crown Court in March 2008.

More recent notable cases include:

Teesside CC. Johnson v Khan. Successfully leading a private prosecution of an internet cryptocurrency £2m fraud, September 2023.

Court of Appeal. Asif v AD. Successfully upholding CC decision and establishing a leading authority on improper private prosecutions, July 2021.

Southwark CC.  Asif v AD. Successfully staying as an abuse of process a private prosecution alleging £1m international fraud, August 2019.

R v DA.  Inner London Crown Court, March 2018.

R v MK and others.  Teesside CC.  (Operation Cleo). November 2017.

R v KE.  Lincoln Crown Court, November 2016, Court of Appeal May 2017.

R v CG and others.  Southwark CC. (Operation Tambourine). January 2017.

R v AP and others,  Teesside CC. February 2016.

R v AD and others. Teesside CC (Operation Bamburgh), March 2015.

£7m mortgage fraud.  Client acquitted after trial.

Conspiracy to supply cocaine.  Acquitted after trial.

Double familial murder (mother and sister) by 14 yr old girl.  Leading authority on anonymity of youths.

£5m conspiracy to import counterfeit material from Far East.  Client acquitted after pre trial argument.

£20m conspiracy to defraud.  Acquitted following collapse of trial.

Murder.  Discharged jury.

James is currently involved in projects to establish Watson Woodhouse in London and Dubai as a leading lawyer in the prosecution and defence of cases of high-value fraud and cybercrime.