Deloitte hires high profile tax litigator from RPC

[private] Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has today announced that Fiona Walkinshaw will be joining the firm on 14 September as a partner in its tax practice. Fiona joins from law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain where she was lead partner in its tax and commercial litigation group, responsible for a wide range of domestic and international disputes including fraud and finance-related, partnership disputes and tax claims.

Richard Buck, senior tax partner at Deloitte, comments: “We are delighted to be welcoming someone of Fiona’s calibre to the firm. Not only is Fiona one of the leading tax litigators in the UK, she also has an outstanding reputation in her field and with clients.

“Deloitte has a well-established indirect tax dispute resolution and litigation practice which has worked on a number of high profile and complex cases including Marks & Spencer, Condé Nast and Rank. We are aiming to mirror this market leading team with an equally successful direct tax litigation practice and Fiona will be a key member in that team.”

Fiona Walkinshaw comments: “The launch of HM Revenue & Custom’s new Litigation and Settlement Strategy in 2007, the reform of the process for dealing with direct tax appeals and the growing influence of European law on UK direct taxes has resulted in a significantly higher focus upon direct tax litigation. I look forward to the opportunity presented to me by Deloitte to establish a successful direct tax practice within such a firm.”

Fiona has 20 years of litigation experience, 10 of these are as a partner, and has been litigating EU group cases for more than eight years. As a result of her work in this area, Fiona was invited by the French Government in 2005 to advise on the potential introduction into French law of class action legislation. She was the only UK adviser.[/private]