James Cousins

Overview

I am a Partner of Mourant LP in the Guernsey Corporate practice, specialising in investment funds.

Prior to joining Mourant in 2022, I spent over nine years in-house within the investment management industry, latterly as a Partner and General Counsel at Coremont (a fintech providing investment management technology to financial institutions) and prior to that within the legal teams of Brevan Howard and BlueCrest (both global macro hedge funds).

I started my career in private practice (from 2004 to 2013) at Weil, Gotshal & Manges (in London and Silicon Valley) where I trained and qualified into the capital markets team, during which time I was also seconded to the ECM and M&A legal team of Deutsche Bank in London.

My practice spans all aspects of asset management. With solid private practice grounding and broad in-house experience, I am able to bring a commercial, pragmatic, client-friendly approach to my advice. I have a particular interest in hedge funds and other alternative investments but advise broadly across all fund types and asset classes. My practice encompasses the full fund lifecycle from formation to maintenance to distributions and dissolutions, in addition to general corporate, finance, and regulatory advisory work.

Professional qualifications

• Advocate, Guernsey, 2024
• Solicitor, England and Wales, 2006 (currently non-practising)
• LPC, Nottingham Law School, 2004
• MA (Law), University of Cambridge, 2003

What the directories say

In Legal 500 UK 2025, James is named as a Recommended Lawyer in both Capital Markets and Investment Funds. A source comments: "James Cousins is a great capital markets lawyer, particularly in the listed funds sector." He is also described as "outstanding" and providing "exactly the right balance of technical excellence and a business-friendly, super commercial approach."

In Legal 500 UK 2024, James is named as a Recommended Lawyer in Investment Funds.