About
James joined Edwards Duthie Shamash in January 2002 as a solicitor in the Community Law Team. He was appointed as a Salaried Partner in 2006 and became an Equity Partner in 2011.
James heads our Community Law, Family Law and Court of Protection Teams and is the Firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP).
Experience & Areas of Expertise
James has specialised in housing law and litigation for the last two decades and has brought a number of notable cases in the field of homelessness and allocations.
James also has an established Landlord and Tenant practice, acting for both tenants and landlords.
In the 2020 editions of the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners James was described as “formidable” and a “dedicated practitioner with a lot of experience”.
James is a member of the Housing Law Practitioners Association and sat on its Executive Committee between 2004 and 2011. James also chaired the Association’s Legal Aid Committee between 2004 and 2009.
Clients/Cases of Interest
James’ notable cases include:
- R(Sabhya Bano) v LB Waltham Forest in the Administrative Court and Court of Appeal in 2024 and 2025. The case concerns discharge of the main homelessness duty under s193 Housing Act 1996 when the Local Authority makes an offer of accommodation in the private rented sector. The Local Authority’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was successful and the Supreme Court has granted our client permission to appeal that judgment.
- Aref Hussaini v LB Islington in the Court of Appeal in 2024 which has clarified the law in relation to local connection, with the Court of Appeal holding that a Local Authority is not entitled to proceed on the basis that there cannot be “special circumstances” giving rise to a “local connection” unless the applicant has a need to live in the district
- Rabah Ghaoui v LB Waltham Forest in the Court of Appeal in 2024. The case concerned the approach to assessing the suitability of temporary accommodation where ECHR rights are engaged, particularly Article 9 (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion)
- R(Sara Hillsden) V Epping Forest DC in the Administrative Court in 2015 which concerned a challenge to a decision by the Council not to consider whether or not the Claimant’s circumstances were exceptional and that she should be treated as eligible for an allocation despite her not fulfilling the Defendant’s residency criteria in its allocations scheme.
- R(Huda Alansi) v LB Newham in the Administrative Court in 2013 which concerned a challenge to the Council’s allocations scheme on the basis that the Claimant had a legitimate expectation that she would retain her priority status if she moved to private sector accommodation.
- Aliya Shariff v LB Camden in the Supreme Court in 2013 which concerned the question of whether a family living in two separate units of accommodation could be said to be living “together”.
- R(Omar Ahmad) v LB Newham in the House of Lords in 2011 which challenged the legality of the council’s allocations scheme and which remains the leading authority in the law of housing allocations.
- Naser Osmani v LB Camden in the Court of Appeal in 2004 which concerned the vulnerability of a homeless applicant and established the principle that the risk of harm must be considered in the context of the applicant being street homeless.