James Simpson

Get to know James

I have worked with vulnerable individuals and their families throughout my legal career, beginning with my time as a legal assistant in 2018 and also during my time as a Trainee Solicitor in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I qualified as a Solicitor in 2021 specialising in Court of Protection and associated Private Client matters, developing my particular skills in working with vulnerable and elderly clients.

I now support Angela Nunn, Principal Lawyer and Professional Deputy, in Slater and Gordon’s London office where I assist with general management of vulnerable clients’ property and financial affairs. To best serve clients and their families, I apply my knowledge of key Mental Capacity Act principles, social care complexities and aspects of the welfare benefits system acquired during my training and qualified work.

I also assist with technical Court of Protection applications and preparing expert witness statements to support the professional deputy in working to the highest standards.

Career highlights

I am proud to have worked not only with vulnerable clients themselves, but also their families and friends. A lot of my most rewarding work has been advising partners or children of people who lack aspects of mental capacity on Court of Protection applications, seeing those matters through from start to finish to obtain a deputyship order allowing them to act as their loved one’s deputy themselves (known as ‘lay deputyship’).

Where a professional deputy needs to be appointed instead, simply taking the time to thoroughly explain the role of a deputy to family members to address any worries they have has been hugely rewarding.

I am also very proud of the support I have been able to give to a professional deputy in times of client crisis. A key personal achievement was taking the lead on working with a client, the deputy, care providers and landlords to source urgent new accommodation for a deputyship client who had been given notice to leave their previous accommodation immediately before Christmas. If not for those actions, the client would have been at increased risk of vulnerability and even homelessness over that period.