Thomas Dumont KC KC > Radcliffe Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Radcliffe Chambers Offices
11 NEW SQUARE, LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3QB
England
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Thomas Dumont KC KC
Position
Tom Dumont’s practice falls into the following areas: trusts and estates, property, charities and professional negligence litigation. Tom Dumont is rated a ‘confident, forthright and extremely able advocate with a sound, practical approach to complex problems’ by ‘Chambers Guide UK’ for traditional Chancery work. He advises beneficiaries and trustees, ranging from large trust corporations at home and abroad, to family trustees and executors. He advises and lectures (including numerous STEP lectures) on the use of trusts and wills in tax and estate planning. He acts in Probate and Inheritance Act disputes, particularly on behalf of charities, aiming to resolve at the outset those cases which ought not to be fought, but to pursue vigorously those which should be. His charity practice is recommended in ‘Chambers Guide UK’ as ‘really excellent’. ‘The Lawyer’ has recommended Tom Dumont as ‘first choice when the opposition are unscrupulous’. He has also been instructed in professional negligence cases by most of the well-known firms who act for solicitors and accountants, as well as by insurers direct. His particular expertise lies in claims involving tax and property, as well as fraud (he was one of a handful of barristers on the SIF fraud panel). Tom has been selected by ‘Citywealth’ as one of the ‘Prominent Barristers – Trusts’ in its Leaders List 2016 and was the most recent STEP Advocate of the Year.
Career
Called 1979; Gray’s Inn; former lecturer in trusts and tax.
Memberships
Professional Negligence Bar Association; Charity Law Association; STEP; ACTAPS.
Education
St Paul’s School; Trinity Hall, Cambridge (MA Hons); FZSL.
Leisure
Watching rugby, playing cricket.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Charities
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Thomas Dumont KC –Radcliffe Chambers ‘He prepares thoroughly and provides clear advice.’
London Bar > Private wealth and probate
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Thomas Dumont KC – Radcliffe Chambers ‘Thomas is outstanding in this field. His knowledge is second to none, and his relaxed and forthright style helps reassure clients. His advocacy is assured and persuasive.’
Radcliffe Chambers has ‘an extremely strong breadth of counsel, from up and coming juniors to silks contesting trust and estate work’. Thomas Dumont KC and Edward Hicks represented adult children who overturned gifts of £650,000 in their late father’s will, the father having lost testamentary practice during the drafting of a will. Hicks also acted for the widow of the deceased in a case where a solicitor executor sought to have her removed as co-executor on the basis of an alleged conflict of interest, on the grounds that she has a potential Inheritance Act claim (the estate going directly to the children under the will), while Josh Lewison secured summary judgment for a group of cancer charities, defending a challenge by a woman to her late father’s will on the challenge the grounds of fraud, undue influence and lack of capacity.
London Bar > Professional negligence
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Thomas Dumont KC – Radcliffe Chambers ‘He’s a real go-to lawyer in this area. He has a sharp legal mind.’
The English Bar Offshore > Trusts and private wealth
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Thomas Dumont KC – Radcliffe Chambers ‘Thomas’ outstanding strengths are his judgement and deep understanding of the relationships that drive disputes within families. Combined with his excellent knowledge of English trust law and the ability to apply this across multiple jurisdictions, this makes him the go-to when any case of this sort arises.’
Radcliffe Chambers frequently handles high-value cases involving disputed trusts with offshore elements in Bermuda, the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and Gibraltar. The set is home to Thomas Dumont KC, who can claim four decades of expertise in Chancery-related work, and Robert Pearce KC and Piers Feltham, both of whom are involved in the Wang litigation, which concerns questions over the scope of a trustees’ powers, as well as the validity of non-charitable purpose trusts in Bermuda. Marcus Flavin is another key junior at the set with expertise in trusts, the administration of estates, probate, and inheritance work. Flavin is acting for the trustees in the case of P Trust, C v Fenlight Trustees & others, which concerns a large Jersey law trust, a removal claim, and breach of trust allegations. Josh Lewison‘s practice predominantly focuses on the Channel Islands, and he is also active in the BVI.