David Pickstone > Stewarts Law LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Stewarts Law LLP Offices

Stewarts Law LLP
5 NEW STREET SQUARE
LONDON
EC4A 3BF
England
Visit website 020 7822 8000 020 7822 8037

David Pickstone

David Pickstone photo
020 7936 8178 dpickstone@stewartslaw.com View profile

Work Department

Tax Litigation and Resolution

Position

Partner and Head of the Tax Litigation department.

David specialises in complex tax disputes with HMRC and commercial parties before the Tax Tribunals, UK and European Courts. He acts for a large number of high net worth individuals as well as various corporate clients across a range of sectors.

David has acted on numerous high-profile direct and indirect tax cases before the courts and Tax Tribunals, including two cases before the Supreme Court. In addition to his vast experience in HMRC litigation, David also acts in professional negligence and mis-selling actions and other tax-related commercial litigation.

In addition to David’s substantial tax practice, David has also acted in numerous public law cases, many of which arose from his tax client base. These have included two judicial review challenges which proceeded to the Supreme Court (Prudential and Davies & James / Gaines-Cooper), and one to the Court of Appeal (Shiner). David also acted in the States of Jersey’s judicial review against the UK government, which was widely covered in the media at the time.

David’s experience includes:

  • Running the well-publicised Prudential privilege litigation from the High Court to Supreme Court
  • Acting in the Littlewoods compound interest litigation before the High Court
  • Conducting the Stamp Taxes Group Litigation Order for the claimants
  • Acting for a number of FTSE100 companies in the FII and dividend Group Litigation Orders
  • Acting in the residency judicial review Davies and James/Gaines-Cooper, which also reached the Supreme Court

Career

David joined Stewarts as a partner in 2014 to establish the Tax Litigation and Investigations department having spent 10 years as a tax litigation lawyer at PwC Legal.

Personal

David enjoys spending time with his young family, playing tennis (not well), a glass of wine or two and the outdoors.

Leisure

Tennis, gardening, photography, all taking a back seat since the birth of his first child at the end of 2014.

Lawyer Rankings

London > Dispute resolution > Tax litigation and investigations

Stewarts Law LLP utilises a broad range of dispute resolution techniques on behalf of clients, including mediation, ADR, and litigation. The group has broad tax expertise, with areas of strength including corporate residence, domicile, and transactions in securities legislation. David Pickstone leads the team and specialises in direct tax, environmental tax, and commercial tax litigation. Matthew Greene joined from Osborne Clarke LLP in June 2023, and has experience representing both corporate and individual clients. Tax director Lisa Vanderheide is a further key name.

London > Insurance > Professional negligence

(Leading individuals)

David Pickstone   – Stewarts Law LLP

Stewarts Law LLP is primarily active on claimant side matters, and has core expertise in tax disputes and commercial litigation. The department has a strong record of high value and high-profile cases, with experience working across the UK and Europe. Practice head David Pickstone is highly experienced in tax disputes, and is a key name for complex claimant cases. James Le Gallais, described as  ‘great with clients and opponents alike’, handles negligence cases involving tax planning, structuring, and investment advice.

London > Dispute resolution > Group litigation: Claimant

The highly regarded group actions offering at Stewarts Law LLP is jointly led by head of tax litigation David Pickstone, competition litigation head Kate Pollock and securities litigation head Keith Thomas. The team, which focuses on cases concerning securities, competition, tax, financial product mis-selling, consumer and data privacy, has recently been acting for multiple financial institutions in claims against Glencore – the firm has a track record of high-profile roles on a raft of other headline-making claims, including the Ingenious and Eclipse film scheme cases and Asda Stores Limited & Others v Mastercard in the Supreme Court.

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Top Tier Firm Rankings

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