Associate Director

James is a highly experienced Business Development trainer, offsite facilitator, executive coach and consultant with a focus on professional services firms.

Specialist areas

James helps clients increase profitable revenue growth by running BD training, which draws on his experience as a fee earner and salesperson. Clients really value his approach, which is pacy, practical and interactive.

James has a particular focus on bids, pricing and negotiation training. He also runs sessions for BD, Marketing and Communications teams in firms.

Career and professional highlights

James has spent 15 years in professional services firms including:

• Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman) as global head of bids and global head of BD for their International Capital Markets practice
• Four years as BD Director at Deloitte Legal in the UK
• Senior roles at CMS and Fladgate.

He also has a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Bayes Business School in London. Furthermore, James is an EMCC-accredited Executive Coach and holds a Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching (PCEC) from Henley Business School.

Thought leadership

James hosts a podcast called The Glue, which discusses topics of interest to the Business Development, Marketing and Communications teams in professional service firms. The Glue can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

What James enjoys most about his work

‘I take great delight in helping my clients address any concerns they have about business development, thus allowing them to become more effective. I also enjoy facilitating group discussions with fee earners at any level to explore their perspectives and ideas about successful ways to win work. Another aspect which I relish is working with them on an ongoing basis, either through our ‘accelerator’ programmes or individual coaching.’