SJ Interview: James Fulforth

Can you tell us a bit about your background, what got you here and the key to your success?

I left university with a degree in English and no particular aspiration to be a lawyer, but after a few years working in sales, a friend who had decided to leave the law suggested it would probably suit me more than it had her. After completing what was then the CPE, I trained at Charles Russell, qualifying into the corporate team in 1997, before moving to Nicholas Graham and Jones, the firm that merged with K&L Gates, where I remained until 2003. After a period as an in-house lawyer in the travel sector, I moved to Kingsley Napley as a partner in 2007. I led the corporate/commercial team from 2014 and have been on the management board since 2019.

I come from a long line of farmers in a very rural part of the east Midlands and had no family history in law, but I was lucky to join a firm which even in the late 90s was looking for trainees from less conventional backgrounds, and with non-legal work experience.

What will your new role at Kingsley Napley involve?

As Senior Partner I now chair the management board, which is responsible for the firm’s overall strategy. The Senior Partner also plays a particular role in appraising and supporting the development of partners at the firm. We have grown significantly in the last few years, especially by hiring additional partners in our non-contentious teams, and a key priority for me will be ensuring that they are fully supported. Another area I will be championing is our cross-practice groups to encourage greater collaboration across the firm.

What areas of law do you specialise in and why are they important?

In my early years, I tended to work mainly on high value M&A transactions and capital markets work, but in recent years I have done a lot of fundraising work for early-stage companies, and a significant amount of this has been for tech companies. This is a critical sector for the UK economy, and never more so than now given the government has committed to making the UK a ‘science and technology’ superpower.

Can you tell us a bit about advising early-stage companies and startups, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals? What challenges do you encounter?

This sort of work tends to suit firms and lawyers who have a genuine interest in the sector, and who are willing to spend a bit more time getting to know founders and their specific business. Key is devising creative, bespoke solutions for these clients and it can be very rewarding to work alongside them on an issue of particular importance or complexity and really feel like you have helped them overcome a challenge and made a difference.

What is the current state of the UK’s tech sector? Has it been impacted by Brexit?

It’s hard not to conclude that Brexit has had a negative impact. The UK produces incredibly innovative businesses, particularly in sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), life sciences and green tech, but when they need to scale up, they face increasing challenges. Despite the government’s attempts to persuade us that they really do see tech as being critical to the future of the economy, and its decisive (and rather surprising) intervention in respect of SVB, many businesses talk of less rather than more government support.