McGrigors beef up their London tax litigation team
McGrigors Tax Litigation and Regulatory team, the only UK practice fully dedicated to tax litigation, dispute resolution, compliance and regulation, has expanded its scope of operation with three key lateral hires. Further recruits will join in the autumn.
The firm, recent winners of the coveted "Best Tax Team in Law Firm" category at the LexisNexis Butterworths Taxation Awards 2006, has hired David Anderson from KPMG, Tamara Solecki from the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) and Sam Davies from Deloitte to complement the existing team.
McGrigors’ team is the longest established contentious tax practice in the UK, having been established in March 2000, and now comprises three partners and ten fee earners.
David Anderson’s career to date includes handling numerous VAT Tribunal cases for Riverside Housing Association (currently under appeal at the High Court), Research Establishment, Quintain Estates Development plc, Dial a Phone, JDL Ltd., Expert Witness Institute. Prior to joining KPMG he worked within the former Customs & Excise Solicitor’s Office and prior to that was an Officer of H.M. Customs & Excise.
Tamara Solecki joins McGrigors from the Assets Recovery Agency, where she was Head taxation Barrister to the Director of the ARA. The ARA was established by the Government to disrupt organised criminal enterprises through the seizure and recovery of criminal assets, either as part of a criminal prosecution or as a stand alone financial investigation. The ARA also has the power to tax the proceeds of crime. Tamara represented and won a number of tax-related HR and proceeds of crime issues at the Special Commisioners in the recent case of Khan v The Director of the Assets Recovery Agency. Prior to joining the ARA, Tamara was a Barrister at Phoenix Chambers, advising primarily on trusts, taxation and administrative law.
Sam Davies has joined the firm from Deloitte, where he has been a member of the Indirect tax Disputes team. He is dual qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and Solicitor of the High Court of England and Wales. Prior to moving to London he worked in the Tax and Legal Services team at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Wellington, New Zealand.
James Bullock, Head of Tax Litigation and Regulatory at McGrigors, said:
"Our expansion will mean that McGrigors can offer its clients expertise right across the field of contentious tax, from dispute resolution before the Special Commissioners and the higher courts, through indirect tax dispute resolution, to advice in relation to the legal aspects of compliance and enforcement and advice in relation to criminal investigations.
"We believe it is very important that taxpayers – both corporates and individuals – have access to the very best experience obtained both in private practice and working for the government from practitioners who are wholly devoted to contentious tax matters – and this is what we can offer."
McGrigors tax litigation team is unique in its market offering. It specialises exclusively in actual or potentially contentious tax matters, rather than tax planning or general tax advice. This enables the team to devote all its energy to the prevention and resolution of disputes in the most efficient, timely and cost-effective way. The team has unparalled experience in tax compliance and regulatory services, HMRC investigations; higher court appeals; EU tax discrimination litigation, assets recovery actions and the anti-money laundering legislation.