Complete Solutions to Complex Problems

I advise high-net-worth individuals, family offices and private companies on serious, sensitive and often unconventional problems. Since 1999, I’ve delivered strategic results across a wide range of matters — from investigations, litigation support and compliance to acquisitions, relocations and reputational repair. Most of my work is behind the scenes, often in parallel with legal or financial teams. My clients are based in the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

“This man can solve any problem you throw at him” – Tatler

“Why didn’t you call JJ?”

WHY CLIENTS COME TO ME

I take on complex, time-consuming or sensitive problems that clients would otherwise have to manage themselves. I bring clarity, experience, and trusted relationships — saving time, reducing risk, and protecting their interests.

I save your time

I save your money

I know the contacts

I have the experience

I have the imagination

I am always transparent

I give you my total support

I maintain strict confidentiality

I value my long-term relationships

I work with the best specialists and experts

I have solutions to seemingly impossible requests

INVESTIGATIONS & PORTFOLIO HIGHLIGHTS

Over the past 25 years, I’ve been asked to resolve a wide range of serious, sensitive and sometimes unconventional problems. Each engagement has required a tailored approach — often involving law, reputation, investigations, and logistics — and close coordination with carefully selected experts across multiple disciplines.

In that time, I’ve gained a reputation for strategic insight, deep focus, and the ability to think well beyond conventional boundaries. I’m often brought into unfamiliar territory, expected to learn fast, navigate nuance, and deliver results where others see no clear path. Clients have described me as remarkably quick to learn, intellectually pedantic in the best sense, and deeply committed — both to them and to the work I do on their behalf.

Professional Investigations & Strategic Support

  • Traced and recovered assets from £50m to £2bn+ in HNW divorce and commercial disputes
  • Sourced evidence to support or resolve corporate litigation and internal claims
  • Recovered $106m for a defrauded UK fund
  • Investigated a £118m internal theft at a financial institution
  • Provided evidence of executive misconduct that derailed a multi-billion-dollar merger
  • Prepared key witness evidence for the defence of a global corporation
  • Conducted fraud detection and due diligence on £100m+ PPE contracts during Covid-19
  • Identified perpetrators of serious sexual offences and gathered civil proceedings evidence

Litigation Support & Investigations

  • Coordinated investigation, legal and reputational teams in complex HNW divorce cases
  • Handled and resolved blackmail threats against CEOs and HNW individuals
  • Conducted deep reputation audits and removed damaging online content
  • Provided investigative, reputational and crisis support for cases in the High Court and abroad

Integrity Compliance & Counter-Corruption

  • Delivered integrity gap analyses and needs assessments for multinationals
  • Designed and implemented bespoke Integrity Compliance Programmes and training
  • Investigated and resolved current and historic corruption and compliance issues
  • Advised clients entering high-risk jurisdictions with complex integrity environments
  • Helped ‘blocked’ clients provide evidence to re-establish banking relationships

Personal & Property

  • Oversaw purchases, rentals and sales of high-value properties (avg. purchase >£40m)
  • Sourced rare books, maps, coins and art for world-class private collections
  • Recovered, restored and auctioned a lost 20th-century art collection (£42m)
  • Engaged elite genealogists to trace missing family members and document family histories
  • Designed and delivered bespoke events, expeditions and private celebrations globally

Other

  • Just ask – because over the past 26 years, there are few things we haven’t done

JJ PROFILE

I was called to the Bar in 1993 and have been solving serious problems for clients ever since — initially as a barrister, and for the past 25 years as a discreet adviser to high-net-worth individuals, families and private companies around the world.

I’m known for strategic clarity, intellectual precision and the ability to deliver results in unfamiliar territory. I’ve built a deep global network of exceptional experts across law, finance, intelligence, investigations, reputation, property, logistics and beyond — and I bring those capabilities together when my clients need more than conventional advice.

I’ve resolved matters ranging from blackmail, short- and long-term investigations and asset recovery to family history, unique events and fine art acquisitions. Some projects take months; others are resolved within hours. What they have in common is urgency, complexity, and the need for total discretion.

Outside my work, I have advised charities, chaired national campaigns, and raised millions for good causes. But most of what I do is behind the scenes, and stays there. I speak fluent French and conversational 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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