James Ramsden KC
Senior Partner
Contact
Biography
James Ramsden KC is Senior partner at Astraea. He has an expansive international practice covering commercial dispute resolution (litigation, mediation, arbitration), international enforcement, regulatory and disciplinary law, and civil fraud.
James is a trusted advisor to corporate, governmental, regulatory, family office and high net worth individual clients. He is panel counsel for the SRA/Law Society acting on complex, high-profile matters. He advises the FCA and ICAEW.
James is a committed and versatile advocate who is known for leading cohesive and effective multidisciplinary teams in complex and often time-constrained assignments. James is described in Chambers & Partners 2026 as “ferociously clever” and “someone you want in your corner”.
James has particular expertise around digital assets and non-traditional finance, and has represented clients in a number of precedent setting cases in this area. He is a regular media commentator on regulation of non-traditional finance, as well as digital finance in the wider context of geopolitics and international security.
James has a strong and longstanding commitment to Advocate (the Bar Pro Bono charity) and in 2021 was nominated as Pro Bono Silk of the Year. James devotes a significant amount of his time to help those who cannot gain access to expert advocacy for financial or other reasons.
James has been admitted to or advised in multiple jurisdictions including, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, US, Russia, Ukraine, Iceland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Australia, BVI, Jersey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands.
James lectures widely on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF), fraud and asset recovery and is author and contributing editor for the authoritative practitioner’s reference, Butterworths’ Financial Regulation Service.