James Kessler QC is a barrister practising in all areas of tax, but more particularly, "private client" work - IHT, CGT, trust tax, offshore tax; also charities and Inland Revenue prosecutions in complex tax evasion cases.
He has been in practice at the tax bar in England since 1985. He has a fondness for trust drafting, having written the leading work on the topic and drafted the STEP standard provisions. His reported cases include R v IRC ex p. Unilever; IRC v Dawson; Wensleydale's Settlement Trustees v IRC; R v Dimsey & Allen and Phizackerley v HMRC.
He is a founder member 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.
Special interests include trust drafting in relatively plain English; trusts and wills generally; Charity tax; Foreign Domiciliaries. James Kessler is also a member of the Bar of Northern Ireland.
KESSLER, James Richard; QC 2003; b 6 Sept, 1959; s of William and Joanna Kessler; m 1983, Jane Marie Pinto; two s one d. Educ: Brasenose Coll., Oxford (MA). FTII 1990. Called to the Bar, Gray’s Inn, 1984; Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland 2003; in practice at Revenue Bar. Founder, Trusts Discussion Forum, 1998.
Publications: Tax Planning for the Foreign Domiciliary, 1987; Tax Planning and Fundraising for Charities, 1989, renamed Taxation of Charities 7th edn 2007; Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts, 1992, 8th edn 2006; Taxation of Foreign Domiciliaries, 2001, 6th edn 2007; Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Canada, 2nd edn 2007; Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Northern Ireland, 2nd edn 2007; Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in the Channel Islands, 1st edn 2006; Drafting Cayman Island Trusts, 1st edn 2006; Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Singapore, 1st edn 2007.
Recreations: cinema, jogging.
Address: 15 Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, WC2A 3UE.
T: (020) 7242 2744;
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