Profile: Yvette Hoskings-James

I am the principal of HJ Legal and qualified as a solicitor in 1992.

After qualification, I worked as an in-house lawyer for various U.S. multinationals and UK organizations including the National Rivers Authority (now Environment Agency), Foster Wheeler and Halliburton. These organizations operated mainly in the areas of environment, oil and gas, engineering and construction. I also headed up the European legal function of URS Corporation, a U.S. multinational engineering and environmental consulting organization.

I have gained extensive commercial and legal experience working on business and legal affairs including UK and international multi-million dollar engineering and construction projects, oil and gas projects, joint ventures, alliances, commercial contracts, risk management, compliance matters, developing and delivering training and advising on business issues.

As an in-house lawyer I had the opportunity to advise and work with colleagues from different business departments including senior management, business development, finance, sales, procurement, commercial, technical and operations.

During my in-house legal career, I have travelled to various parts of the world including China, Algeria, Middle East, Europe, U.S, and Australia to work on projects and deliver training.

Training is an area of work that I particularly enjoy. I specialise in training non-lawyers on understanding legal issues which affect business including the practical steps to avoid legal pitfalls. I have developed and delivered training on contracts, intellectual property, general commercial law, risk management and governance.

In addition to working as an in-house lawyer I have run my own business consultancy.

I am also the author of Business Agreements Made Easy which is a guide for small businesses to commercial and legal issues as well as pitfalls in relation to business agreements. Business Agreements Made Easy is available directly from Lawpack Publishing Limited