About

I’m James.

I’m a writer by trade. But much of my work happens before the writing begins.

The background: Law → Languages → Banking

I studied law – twice – then decided what I really wanted was to speak a foreign language. I chose to learn Spanish in Barcelona, where it turns out everyone prefers to speak Catalan.

Whilst there, I also studied Swedish (fun to pronounce, mercifully simple grammar), then gained fluency while living in Stockholm.

With two languages and two law degrees under my belt, it was time to find a “proper” job. I moved to London and, after a dispiriting job hunt, secured a role in the City that required none of my legal or language skills.

It came with attractive pay but did little for my soul. I felt a pull toward writing and began moonlighting as a freelance journalist.

The craft: Journalist → Editor → Trainer

I secured a job as an energy reporter, likely because they needed a Spanish speaker, given my limited writing experience.

I went on to publish hundreds of articles and learned to make technical topics accessible without losing accuracy (or the reader’s attention). The newsroom training – asking sharp questions, testing what people told me, gathering facts and finding the story – became the foundation for how I work today.

I later became managing editor of two industry publications. The role included commissioning articles, editing copy, and setting the editorial agenda. It also included building the processes that maintained quality consistently: developing editorial standards, improving workflows, and designing and delivering writing skills workshops for contributors. The role even led to a few live TV and radio appearances – confirming both that energy geopolitics makes for good television, and that cameras add ten pounds.

From there, I moved to a consulting firm, where I helped subject specialists explain complex ideas to clients and external audiences. The work involved shaping thought leadership and bringing multiple perspectives together into a single, coherent story.

The problem worth solving

In 2016, I founded Allpress Communications. The work kept revealing the same problem: organizations can have deep expertise and plenty of smart people thinking about what to say, yet still miss the strongest idea.

The problem isn’t usually a lack of thinking. It’s that the process can capture answers rather than interrogate them, or stop before finding an idea strong enough to build around.

That’s what I focus on now: helping organizations work out what they should be saying – finding and testing the strongest ideas in their expertise, then developing the arguments, stories and writing that make them land.

I enjoy it because it feeds my curiosity and rewards careful thinking about high-stakes problems and how to solve them.

I hold LL.B and LL.M degrees in law, remain fluent in Spanish, but sadly, I’ve lost my Swedish.

To learn more about my work, my processes, and where I’ve featured, click the Portfolio tab.