James MacDougald > Ten Old Square > London, England > Barrister Profile

Ten Old Square
LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3SU
England

Work Department

Private Client:Trusts and Probate, Private Client: Personal Tax, Court of Protection

Position

Barrister with a general Chancery practice including litigation, advice and drafting in all of Chambers’ core disciplines. He has particular experience of private client work and advises regularly on wills, trust and estate administration, capital taxation, Court of Protection matters, contentious trust and inheritance disputes and family provision claims.

As a litigator, James appears in trust and estate disputes both as sole counsel and as part of a team. He also undertakes property, insolvency and general commercial litigation in the High Court and the County Court. While the majority of his cases are litigated in the English courts, he has also recently been instructed in trust disputes in Jersey, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

Career

Called 2011, Lincoln’s Inn.
Prior to pupillage James worked as an assistant section editor at the Daily Telegraph. James is an author of Williams on Wills (10th ed.) and a contributor to the TolleyGuidance series on Inheritance Tax Planning.

Reported cases include:
Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing
[2017] EWCA Civ 74: Data Protection Act and trusts.

Shergill & Ors v Khaira & Ors [2017] EWHC 769 (Ch): Dispute over trusteeship of Sikh temples
Bathurst & Anor v Bathurst & Ors (Rev 1) [2016] EWHC 3033 (Ch): Variation of trusts application
Davidson v Seelig [2016] EWHC 549 (Ch): Junior counsel for the trustees in a late application to amend concerning the locus standi of trust protectors.
Gayle and Anor v Gayle and Ors [2016] EWHC 2587 (Ch): Permission to appeal and relief from sanctions.

Recent published articles: Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing: The practical implications, March 2017 Changes to the UK taxation of non-doms, Lawskills, 2016 Long arm of the law: the English court’s power to vary foreign trusts, Trusts and Trustees Standing on thin ice: court applications by trust protectors, Lawskills, 2016 Crociani: the proper forum for trust disputes, Journal of International Tax, Trust and Corporate Planning, 2015, Vol 22, Issue 2 Have you made a serious mistake, Lawskills, 2015 The bell is tolling for pilot trusts, Lawskills, 2015 Can the proceeds of a life insurance policy be clawed back in 1975 Act Claims?, Lawskills, 2014

Languages

Basic French, Basic Italian

Memberships

Chancery Bar Association.

Education

Professional Legal Qualifications: Bar of England and Wales [2011]. Other qualifications: Bar Professional Training Course, College of Law: Outstanding [2011]; Graduate Diploma In Law, College of Law: Commendation [2010]; BA (English Literature), University of York: First class honours [2009]. Academic awards, Hardwicke award, Lincoln’s Inn [2010]; Buchanan prize, Lincoln’s Inn [2011].

Lawyer Rankings

London Bar > Private client: trusts and probate

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3

James MacDougaldTen Old Square ‘James can provide thorough and considered advice. His written advice is detailed but still clear and client-friendly. He is extremely knowledgeable and an absolute pleasure to work with.’

Ten Old Square is described as a ‘very good set’ with ‘professional and approachable counsel who provide high-quality advice’. Richard Dew represented a firm of solicitors in Gorbachev v Guriev, in which a Russian billionaire saught disclosure of a document held by the firm concerning advice given to two trusts of which the claimant is a beneficiary. James MacDougald  represented the trust services prodiver in Velutini Perez v Equiom Trust Corp (UK) Ltd, in which a settlor directed the trustees to revoke a trust despite the trustees’ concern about the claimant’s capacity. Eason Rajah KC, as was, is now a High Court judge.

London Bar > Tax: personal

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3

James MacDougaldTen Old Square

The English Bar Offshore > The English Bar Offshore

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3

James MacDougaldTen Old Square