James’ work has been mainly in the fields of chemistry and biotechnology, including chemical and biological pharmaceuticals and plant biotechnology. In the field of pharmaceutical chemistry, James has been responsible for patenting many new chemical entities including some which subsequently became best selling drugs. In terms of biological pharmaceuticals, he was involved in major litigation in the UK and the USA relating to tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) which was one of the first cases to come before the courts involving recombinant DNA technology. He has also been involved in patenting in the field of immunology including therapeutic antibodies. Other technical fields in which James has been involved include food and starch chemistry, inorganic chemistry including fillers, pigments and glass, electrochemical cells, synthetic organic chemistry, polymers and adhesives.