John Brinsmead-Stockham KC

Called 2005

Silk 2023

John undertakes a wide variety of advisory and litigation work in all areas of tax law. He has advised on matters ranging from inheritance tax and SDLT planning to major corporation tax and VAT disputes between multi-national companies and HMRC. As an advocate regularly appears unled in major cases for both taxpayers and HMRC and he has acted as junior Counsel in a number of the most significant tax cases of recent years.

Tax Junior of the Year for 2020 - Legal 500.

Tax Junior of the Year for 2020 - Chambers and Partners.

John undertakes a wide variety of advisory and litigation work in all areas of tax law. He has advised on matters ranging from inheritance tax and SDLT planning to major corporation tax and VAT disputes between multi-national companies and HMRC. As an advocate regularly appears unled in major cases for both taxpayers and HMRC and he has acted as junior Counsel in a number of the most significant tax cases of recent years.

In his spare time, John plays cricket for the Bar of England and Wales and the (aptly named) Grannies CC. He has also been known to head off on an occasional cycling adventure, much to the chagrin of his Clerks…

 


Legal Information

John Brinsmead-Stockham has professional liability insurance provided by the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Limited (90 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4ST) on a world-wide basis and subject to the terms of cover: see www.barmutual.co.uk

VAT number: 888559345

Court of Justice of the EU

Supreme Court 

  • Anson v HMRC [2015] UKSC 44 (SC) – treatment of a Delaware LLC for the purposes of double taxation relief – entity classification (appeal allowed by the Supreme Court)

Court of Appeal

High Court 

Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery)

First-tier Tribunal (Tax)

  • Chambers and Partners (2024) –“John is really good and very easy to work with. He makes the whole litigation process so much more digestible.”
  • Chambers and Partners (2024)-“He’s thorough and always comes up with new points to add to our arguments. He also provides great client service.”
  • Chambers and Partners (2024)-“A real team-player, who is hugely sharp technically and strategically. He’s great to work with and highly popular with both clients and solicitors as he has a highly collaborative working style.”
  • Legal 500 (2024) – ”John is excellent. He has extreme clarity of expression – both oral and written – backed up by a deep knowledge of his practice areas. Also, John is a tenacious and highly talented advocate in the court room”.
  • Legal 500 (2020) – “He is always over the detail, extremely thorough and reliably excellent” 
  • Chambers and Partners (2019)“Knowledgeable and very thorough”, “Highly intelligent, proactive and a pleasure to work with” and “Always impressive, well prepared and pragmatic. He thinks around the subject and contributes original and insightful comments.”
  • Legal 500 (2019)“Highly intelligent, very organised approach”
  • Chambers and Partners (2018) “He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of recent tax cases” and “Practical, very well prepared and an excellent VAT adviser.” 
  • Chambers and Partners (2017)“He leaves no stone unturned in getting to grips with every aspect of the dispute” and “He’s very capable, very clear and very well informed”
  • Legal 500 (2017)“Focused, intelligent and practical; all-in-all excellent”
  • Chambers and Partners (2016) – “extremely bright and very articulate” and “massively conscientious – he constantly thinks about things, is engaging and remarkably client-friendly.”
  • Legal 500 (2015)“Great experience in Supreme Court cases”.
  • Chambers and Partners (2015)“an outstanding young barrister. He is insightful, very articulate and very thorough”.
  • Legal 500 (2014) – “a user-friendly junior, who is very strong on responsiveness and commerciality”.
  • Legal 500 (2012) –incredibly thorough, meticulous and very able”.
  • MA Cantab (Double First Class Hons, Law), Trinity Hall, Cambridge (Bateman Scholar).
  • BVC (Outstanding), BPP Law School.
  • Middle Temple (Queen Mother’s Scholarship and Harmsworth Entrance Exhibition).
  • Tax Junior of the Year (2020) – Chambers and Partners
  • Tax Junior of the Year (2020) – Legal 500

John was selected by the Tax Journal as one of the “Top 40 under 40”  individuals working in UK tax in 2015, and was described therein as:

  • “one of the most consistently impressive juniors out there at present”
  • “extremely client friendly and presents well on his feet – factors which, combined with his technical excellence really mark him out as a future star”

 

  • John is a member of the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel (B Panel) and is a CEDR-accredited Mediator.

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