James Clanchy, FCIArb, is a full-time arbitrator in independent practice and a former Honorary Secretary of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA). He is an associate member of Six Pump Court chambers in London.

As an arbitrator since 2016 (full-time since 2022), he has taken appointments in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations seated in London, Paris, Dubai, Singapore and Copenhagen, as a sole arbitrator and as a member of two and three member tribunals. His cases largely concern charterparties, ship sale and purchase, container leases, commodities trading, and loan agreements. He has written more than 50 awards, mainly in proceedings without hearings and frequently with fixed timetables and fixed costs. He has completed numerous arbitrations within two or three months of his appointment. 

He is a solicitor in England & Wales (admitted 1990, non-practising since 2019) and was an avocat at the Paris bar from 1994 to 2008. He spent 20 years as a commercial disputes lawyer in London and Paris, with Withers, Holman Fenwick Willan, and Stephenson Harwood, specialising in shipping, oil and gas, and international trade.

He was Registrar and Deputy Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) for four years (2008 to 2012). He spent two years (2012 to 2014) as a case assessor for third-party funders and After The Event (ATE) insurers. 

James is a co-author of A Commentary on the LCIA Arbitration Rules 2014 (Sweet & Maxwell, 2015). He has given lectures and spoken at conferences about the LCIA, the LMAA, third-party funding, and professional ethics. He has been a contributor to Lexis PSL Arbitration and New Law Journal. He contributed a chapter to Expedited International Arbitration: Policies, Rules, and Procedures (Herman Verbist and Alan M Anderson ed, Kluwer, 2024).