Dr Nick James graduated from the University of Queensland in 1990 with Bachelor degrees in Law and Commerce, and until 1994 practised Commercial and Property Law in Brisbane and at the Gold Coast. In 1996 Nick returned to the University of Queensland to teach business law and property law at the Gatton Campus. In 1998 Nick completed his Master of Laws, and in 1999 he relocated to the new Ipswich campus where he was involved with the development and delivery of business law, corporations law and e-commerce law courses in flexible mode. In 2004, Nick completed his doctoral thesis on critical legal education. In 2005 he relocated to the law school at the St Lucia campus, and in 2009 was appointed Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Academic) within the School.
Nick presently teaches Business Law to non-law students, and Law & Society to law students within the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland. He is the School Chair of Teaching and Learning, and a member of the editorial committee of the Legal Education Review. He received the UQ Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and a National Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2007. He is the author of numerous journal articles and conference papers in the areas of legal education and critical legal theory, and is presently engaged in a research project investigating the teaching and assessment of legal reasoning and critical thinking skills.