Mr James Kessler KC > Chambers of James Kessler KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Old Square Tax Chambers Offices
Old Square Tax Chambers
15 OLD SQUARE, LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3UE
England
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Mr James Kessler KC
Work Department
Barrister
Position
Private client tax, particularly foreign domicile tax and charities. Cases include:
- Revenue and Customs v Empaminondas Embiricos (partial closure notice)
- Embiricos v Revenue and Customs Commissioners
- Ardmore Construction Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners
- Burns and another v Revenue and Customs Commissioners; SpC 728
- Unilever (UK) Holdings Ltd v Smith (Inspector of Taxes)
- Regina v. Dimsey; Regina v. Allen
- R v Dimsey R v Allen
- REGINA v. DIMSEY ; REGINA v. ALLEN
- R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte Unilever plc and related application
- Dawson v Inland Revenue Commissioners
- Wensleydale’s Settlement Trustees v IRC
- Phizackerley v HMRC
- R v Perrin
- Burns v HMRC
Other interests include prosecution of tax crime in complex cases, particularly along the avoidance/evasion faultline.
Career
Called 1984, Gray’s and Lincoln’s Inns; KC 2003.
In practice at the Revenue Bar since 1985.
Member of the Bar of Northern Ireland.
Publications of note include
- Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts
- Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations
- Taxation of Foreign Domiciliaries
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Australia
- Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts in Canada
- Drafting Cayman Islands Trusts
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Singapore
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in the Channel Islands
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in New Zealand
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Northern Ireland
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Scotland
- Drafting British Virgin Island Trusts
Languages
Working Portuguese, German & Hebrew
Memberships
Revenue Bar Association; Chancery Bar Association.
James is one of the founders of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, for whom he drafted the STEP Standard Provisions, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
James has received the Geoffrey Shindler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession (STEP Private Client Awards, 2011).
Education
MA (Oxon).
Leisure
Jogging, cinema.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Tax: personal
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1James Kessler KC –Old Square Tax Chambers ‘An amazing intellect, lovely man, and the stand-out authority on international private client tax matters such as the remittance basis. For many issues, there is no-one who is remotely comparable in technical terms.’
Old Square Tax Chambers members advise extensively within the UK and offshore, and take a key place in thought leadership in the practice area. James Kessler KC, who is head of chambers, is a leading expert in offshore taxation and charity law. Robert Venables KC, who is a former chair of the Revenue Bar Association, handles offshore tax planning and residence and domicile issues. Rory Mullan KC represented the Fisher Family before the Supreme Court in Fisher v HMRC, regarding offshore tax planning issues related to the sale of the Stan James betting business in 2000. Harriet Brown is dual-qualified in England and Jersey, and is active in matters straddling the jurisdictions.