Complete Solutions to Complex Problems
JJ is an elite international advisor supporting HNWs, family offices and corporate clients at the highest level. Since 1999, we have resolved complex problems and projects for our clients across an unusually broad range of services from investigations to acquisitions and more. We are truly global, with clients and projects in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa.
“This man can solve any problem you throw at him” – Tatler

“Why didn’t you call JJ?”
OUR VALUE
We take care of problems and projects that you would otherwise have to manage yourself, personally. This way:
We save your time
We save your money
We know the contacts
We have the experience
We have the imagination
We are always transparent
We give you our total support
We maintain strict confidentiality
We value our long-term relationships
We introduce the best specialists and experts
We have solutions to seemingly impossible requests
PORTFOLIO
Legal oversight and advice on any and all aspects of our work can be provided by specialist barristers at Pavocat Chambers, who we work closely with.
Professional Investigations
- HNW divorces: investigations identifying and tracing assets from £50m to £2billion
- Sourcing evidence to help support or resolve corporate disputes and claims
- Helping a UK fund track down their broker-turned-fraudster and recover $106m
- Investigation of an in-house theft of £118m from a financial institution
- Providing evidence of misconduct by a CEO destroying a £multi-billion merger
- Investigating and preparing witness evidence for a corporation’s defence in major prosecution
- Pre-contract due diligence and fraud detection globally into high value PPE contracts during Covid-19
- Identifying perpetrators of serious sexual crimes and gathering evidence for civil proceedings
Litigation Support
- HNW divorces: engaging investigation, legal, reputation management, and other support services
- Handling and resolving blackmails against CEOs and HNW individuals
- Repairing untrue online allegations and undertaking deep-dive reputation audits for clients
Integrity Compliance
- Undertaking integrity compliance ‘gaps and needs’ analyses for companies
- Designing and creating bespoke and complete Integrity Compliance Programmes and training
- Investigations into and resolving clients’ current or historic corruption and compliance issues
- Helping clients safely enter new markets and countries where the integrity environment is ‘complex’
- Helping ‘blocked’ clients provide evidence to address concerns of banks and financial institutions
Personal & Property
- Purchases / rentals / sales (average property purchase price to date >£40m)
- Researching and purchasing items for clients assembling world class collections of books, maps, coins and art
- Identifying, restoring, framing and selling by auction a collector’s art collection (£42m)
- Engaging the world’s finest genealogists to create family histories or to trace ‘lost’ family members
- Designing and organising truly ‘out of this world’ events and adventures globally for 2-600 people
Other
- Just ask, because over the past 25 years there are few things we haven’t done
JJ PROFILE
James gained a Combined Honours First Class Degree at Oxford Brookes University in 1992 and was called to the Bar in 1993. In addition to founding Johnstone & Partners, he is also a practising barrister at a London-based set of chambers.
James has a hard-earned reputation for handling challenging situations, especially those which his clients would otherwise have to deal with themselves, personally. Over the past 25 years, as a trusted advisor to his clients, James has developed an extensive global contact base of professionals and specialists at the highest level and in almost every field. This network enables him to identify, recruit and manage specialists to handle almost any problem or request his clients bring him.
His clients appreciate James’s ability to ‘think outside the box’ and to come up with innovative solutions to seemingly impossible requests. Some of these requests might require extensive and patient work (e.g., investigations and acquisitions) but others often need to be resolved with the utmost urgency (e.g., blackmail).
From 2003-2008, James was Chairman of the British Red Cross’s largest annual fundraising event, for which his team at the Red Cross won 9 national awards. He has also advised numerous other charities and has raised millions of pounds for good causes in the UK and abroad.
James speaks fluent French and good Spanish.
TESTIMONIALS
‘Goes the extra mile to protect his clients’
“James has common sense, is hard-working, thorough, resourceful, always available 24/7, and invariably brings useful and intelligent strategic insights. And, as we have seen on more than one occasion, he is prepared to go the extra mile to protect his clients. We have no hesitation in recommending him to his clients and to our own. We should point out that this letter was not solicited from us by James, but was offered by us to him as acknowledgement of his excellent work for his client in a recent matter.”
Partner – UK Law Firm
‘He is highly recommended’
“I have worked with James on several sensitive and confidential projects and every time he has delivered. He always keeps his word (an increasingly rare commodity), maintains confidentiality under every circumstance and is a pleasure to work with.”
Middle East Client
‘Solves difficult problems quickly’
“James Johnstone is a man with an amazing range of knowledge and he has the ability to analyse and solve difficult problems quickly and efficiently. I wholeheartedly recommend him.”
US Client
‘He did so much more than we expected’
“My lawyers reached out to James about a major multi-jurisdictional case they had been working on without success for years trying to get a settlement for me. James was able to take us straight to the other side’s key decision-maker and within months we received a substantial seven-figure settlement. He did so much more than my lawyers or I expected and has changed my life.”
US Client
‘He truly saved my life’
When I most needed his assistance, at a very delicate time in my life, he dropped everything to be there for me and did his utmost in a very difficult situation. You could truly say that he saved my life. For that, I will ever be grateful.”
German Client
‘He worked non-stop’
“James worked non-stop for over a year with his investigators on a complex financial investigation across numerous opaque jurisdictions globally, helping to uncover extensive high-value assets that had been deliberately hidden from us by the other party. His work enabled us to achieve a far better and fairer settlement than had seemed possible to us at the outset.”
Indian Client
‘Thinks outside the box’
“What I like about James’s approach is that he can always be trusted to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas. On one project which was the culmination of two year’s sensitive work by him for me in UK and abroad he came up with a solution that was the precise opposite of what I had expected. But I went with his proposal and I’m glad I did because he successfully created a substantial and unanticipated fortune for me and my family.”
UK Client
TESTIMONIALS
‘Goes the extra mile to protect his clients’
“James has common sense, is hard-working, thorough, resourceful, always available 24/7, and invariably brings useful and intelligent strategic insights. And, as we have seen on more than one occasion, he is prepared to go the extra mile to protect his clients. We have no hesitation in recommending him to his clients and to our own. We should point out that this letter was not solicited from us by James, but was offered by us to him as acknowledgement of his excellent work for his client in a recent matter.”
Partner – UK Law Firm
‘He truly saved my life’
When I most needed his assistance, at a very delicate time in my life, he dropped everything to be there for me and did his utmost in a very difficult situation. You could truly say that he saved my life. For that, I will ever be grateful.”
German Client
‘Solves difficult problems quickly’
“James Johnstone is a man with an amazing range of knowledge and he has the ability to analyse and solve difficult problems quickly and efficiently. I wholeheartedly recommend him.”
US Client
‘Thinks outside the box’
“What I like about James’s approach is that he can always be trusted to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas. On one project which was the culmination of two year’s sensitive work by him for me in UK and abroad he came up with a solution that was the precise opposite of what I had expected. But I went with his proposal and I’m glad I did because he successfully created a substantial and unanticipated fortune for me and my family.”
UK Client
‘He worked non-stop’
“James worked non-stop for over a year with his investigators on a complex financial investigation across numerous opaque jurisdictions globally, helping to uncover extensive high-value assets that had been deliberately hidden from us by the other party. His work enabled us to achieve a far better and fairer settlement than had seemed possible to us at the outset.”
Indian Client
‘He is highly recommended’
“I have worked with James on several sensitive and confidential projects and every time he has delivered. He always keeps his word (an increasingly rare commodity), maintains confidentiality under every circumstance and is a pleasure to work with.”
Middle East Client
‘He did so much more than expected’
“My lawyers reached out to James about a major multi-jurisdictional case they had been working on without success for years trying to get a settlement for me. James was able to take us straight to the other side’s key decision-maker and within months we received a substantial seven-figure settlement. He did so much more than my lawyers or I expected and has changed my life.”
US Client
CONTACT
office@johnstoneandpartners.com
+44 777 444 5020
Central Court, London WC2A 1AL
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Registered in England & Wales (No 5471199).