George Rowell
Call 2004 (Lincoln’s Inn)
Qualifications MA (Oxon), Dip. Law (Distinction), MA in Law
Appointments Hardwicke Scholar of Lincoln’s Inn; Junior Counsel to the Crown (Regional Panel)
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Background
George grew up in Cornwall. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and City University in London. After pupillage with HM Revenue & Customs and a tenancy on the South Eastern Circuit, he retuned to the West Country and joined St John’s Chambers in 2008.
George is a member of the Attorney General’s Regional Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown. He can therefore undertake civil work on behalf of all Government departments and related public bodies.
Areas of Practice
Tax
George regularly acts both for and against HMRC in the VAT & Duties Tribunal and the General and Special Commissioners (Tax Chambers of the First-Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal from 1 April 2009). George specialises in VAT litigation and advisory work involving small and medium-sized businesses. He is currently instructed as sole counsel on appeals worth up to £7.6 million and junior counsel on appeals worth up to £35 million, as well as a variety of smaller cases.
Examples of George’s VAT work include registration disputes; charitable, sporting and educational exemptions; validitiy of invoices; ‘best judgment’ assessments following alleged under-declaration of turnover; penalties; default surcharges and ‘reasonable excuse’ appeals; ‘MTIC’ and other kinds of fraud; land subject to option to tax.
George also undertakes direct tax work on behalf of private clients and small and medium-sized buinesses. His experience includes capital gains tax, inheritance tax and corporation tax, as well as professional negligence relating to tax issues.
Commercial
George has experience in a wide range of commercial matters, including:
- Partnership disputes
- Employees’ and directors’ restrictive covenants
- Freezing injunctions
- Contract
- Consumer credit
- Insolvency
- Landlord & tenant disputes (commercial and residential)
Some recent examples of George’s commercial work include acting for the relatives of the deceased senior partner of a solicitors’ firm in a protracted dispute with the surviving partners; opposing a restrictive covenant claim made against a former director of a medical equipment company; obtaining a freezing injunction against a building firm of doubtful solvency; advising the victims of a fraudulently obtained timeshare credit agreement; acting for the Official Receiver, HMRC and debtors in various insolvency matters.
Equity, Trusts, Probate and Inheritance
George undertakes advocacy and advisory work for private clients. His principal areas of work are:
- Division of assets between cohabitants
- Co-ownership and trusts of land
- Validity and construction of wills and settlements
- Proprietary estoppel;
- Administration of estates and trusts
- Claims under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
- Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
Direct Access
George is qualified to undertake Direct Access work in appropriate cases, for further information, please visit our Direct Access page.
