James Samuel Zeere is a disputes resolution lawyer, and his core practice areas include corporate and commercial law, employment and labour relations, financial services and insurance, and legal risk management and regulatory compliance. James advises and represents corporate entities on a wide range of legal, regulatory and transactional matters, working with in-house counsel, within the business operation and as local counsel.
Recent experience:
- Represented Unilever Uganda Limited, International Justice Mission, International Food Policy Research Initiative, Housing Finance Bank Uganda, Citibank Uganda and other entities in multiple labour disputes in Courts of law in Uganda
- Advised East African Development Bank in managing their Staff Appeals Committee and Administrative Tribunal for disputes arising from their staff.
- Represented Standard Chartered Bank Uganda in a digital fraud dispute resulting in the dismissal of the case against the Bank.
- Represented Stanbic Bank Uganda, Absa Bank, DFCU Bank, Centenary Bank and others in disputes relating to management of customer accounts.
- Represented Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, Centenary Bank and DFCU Bank in several disputes challenging the banks’ rights to foreclosure under mortgages resulting in the rejection of the challenges to the foreclosure.
- Advised and represented Hima Cement Limited (affiliated to LafargeHolcim), CFAO Mobility (formerly Toyota Uganda), Standard Chartered Bank Uganda and Uganda Breweries Limited in multiple cases and investigations by the National Building Review Board, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, the Uganda National Bureaus of Standards and the Financial Intelligence Authority.
- Advised and represented the Belgian Development Agency, World Food Programme Uganda and World Wide Fund for Nature International in asserting its immunity against civil proceedings and against the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Uganda.
- Advised eleven diplomatic agencies in Uganda on dissolution of a funding mechanism and management of transitional matters.
- Represented the Arch-Bishop of the Church of Uganda in a dispute arising from felection of a Bishop and seeking to injunct the consecration of an elected Bishop.
- Represented Sinohydro Corporation Limited in several disputes arising from the hydropower production plant in Karuma, Kiryandongo, the largest ever of its kind in Uganda.
- Representing the Royal Danish Embassy in Kampala as an assignee of the legal responsibility of 11 sovereign nations to pursue claims against four national development partner organisations which misappropriated development funds.
Professional Qualifications
- Advocate admitted to the High Court of Uganda.
Education
- Makerere University: Master of Business Administration (Business Administration and Management.
- Uganda Christian University, Mukono: Bachelor of Laws.
- Law Development Centre: Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (bar qualification).
Memberships
- Member of the East African Law Society.
- Member of the Uganda Law Society.
The High Court of Uganda has in Translink Limited v Standard Chartered Bank (U) Limited, High Court Civil Suit No 415 of 2019 re-examined the scope of a bank’s duty of care to its customer in the context of an online or digital transaction. The Court stated that a bank’s duty of care in a digital transaction is discharged when it successfully proves that a payment has been made in accordance with a customer’s instruction.