James Nicholls

James Nicholls joined Hamilton Locke as a partner, Corporate in 2025, after almost four years at DLA Piper in the same role. Prior to that, he was a special counsel at Allen & Overy where he was specialising in M&A and corporate law, ECM transactions and head office regulatory advice.

Mr Nicholls assisted both domestic and foreign companies in successfully implementing inorganic value solutions, predominantly in the energy & resources sector.

Mr Nicholls is included in the Best Lawyer's lists for M&A and Corporate Law, is a member of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, and a recipient of the Lawyers Weekly’s “30 under 30” award in the field of M&A.

Outside of private practice, he has co-founded the UWA Law School’s Mergers & Acquisitions course and the Corporate Control Forum.