James Kirby is a Chancery barrister with experience across all areas of Chambers’ expertise including Private Client (Contentious and Non-Contentious); Capital Taxes; Court of Protection; and Property.
James appears regularly in the High Court and County Court, and has also appeared in the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) and the Court of Protection. He is equally happy being instructed on his own account or as a junior within a wider team.
Before becoming a barrister, James was a Research Fellow in History at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Capital Taxes
James’ experience relating to capital taxes includes:
- Advising on whether substantial lifetime gifts triggered a pre-owned assets tax charge or constituted gifts with reservation of benefit
- Advising on claiming residential nil-rate band after the expiry of the two-year period
- Advising on the grossing up for IHT purposes of a legacy to pay tax on settled property
- Advising executors on the deductibility of liabilities for IHT purposes
- Advising on and drafting a s.144 appointment from a nil-rate band trust
- Drafting correspondence with HMRC
- Drafting s.142 deeds of variation
- Advising on IHT domicile issues
James also has experience of tax litigation (from statements of case through to trial in the FTT) as junior counsel for HMRC in a series of cases concerning partnership income tax avoidance schemes: Odey Asset Management LLP v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 31 (TC) and HFFX LLP v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 36 (TC).
Qualifications
- Bar Professional Training Course (Outstanding), City Law School (2017)
- Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction; Equity & Trusts Prize), City Law School (2016)
- Princess Royal Scholarships, Inner Temple (BPTC and GDL)
- DPhil in History, Balliol College, Oxford (2014)
- MSt in History (Distinction), Balliol College, Oxford (2011)
- BA in History (First Class – highest in university), Balliol College, Oxford (2010)
Associations & Memberships
- Member of the Chancery Bar Association
- Member of the Court of Protection Bar Association
- Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Publications
‘Tax Planning in the Court of Protection’, Lawskills (Sep. 2018)
James has also published a number of articles in leading historical journals and a book (on 19th-century religious history) with Oxford University Press.
James Kirby is a self-employed, independent barrister whose practice is regulated by the Bar Standards Board [Bar Council Ref 69244]. He is fully insured with the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund [BMIF Ref 2360/079] to provide legal services, please refer to the BMIF website for full details of the world-wide cover provided. He is registered for VAT under the reference 304589790.
