James Maurici was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 1996. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2013. He practices in planning; environmental law; and public law. He was a member of the Attorney-General’s London Panels of Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1999-2013. James' planning practice encompasses all aspects of planning both at inquiries and hearings and in the Higher Courts. He recently acted for Wisley Properties Investments Limited, on a recovered appeal for a sustainable new settlements of up to 2068 homes on the former Wisley Airfield within the Guildford Green Belt. His recent high-profile planning cases include acting for the Government in R. (Shirley) v SSCLG [2017] EWHC 2306 (Admin) on the interpretation of the air quality directive; R (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) v Secretary of State for Justice [2017] 5 Costs L.O. 691 on the challenge to the revised Aarhus costs rules and the airports strike out case Hillingdon LBC v Secretary of State for Transport [2017] EWHC 121 (Admin). He is acting for the Department of Transport in relation to airport expansion in the South-East. He has appeared in numerous cases before the European Court of Justice and the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance) and has appeared a number of times before the UNECE Aarhus Compliance Committee in Geneva. James chairs the Planning Steering Group and co-chairs the Environmental Steering Group at Landmark Chambers.