Bird & Bird LLP offers advice around both contentious and non-contentious customs and excise matters, with a strong track record in handling tax disputes before HMRC for large domestic and international clients. From pre-emptive compliance, to investigations, civil litigation and defending criminal prosecutions, the practice offers broad expertise and is particularly well versed in cases pertaining to ‘sin’ taxes – those relating to alcohol, tobacco and gambling. Andy Brown heads the team with 25 years’ experience and has considerable experience of tax avoidance, evasion, allegations of fraud and disputes. Senior associate Chris Young advises on direct and indirect tax issues, and acts for clients in civil and criminal litigation, and the group was recently bolstered by the arrival of associates Jennifer Southern, who joined from an in-house role at HMRC in June 2022, and Caitriona Moran, who joined from William Fry LLP in September of the same year.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Hardworking team with strong customs and excise technical knowledge and experience.’
‘Chris Young - hard-working and excellent customs expertise’
- 'They deal with queries swiftly and competently.'
Key clients
- B&M Retail
- Kammac
- WF&L
- Push Energy
- CVR Global Offshore Limited
Work highlights
- Advised B&M Retail on its appeals against multi-million pound excise duty assessments and related penalties.
- Advised a leading steel stockholder in bringing tribunal proceedings and a judicial review against HMRC’s imposition of safeguarding duty and VAT on imports of steel products into the UK.
- Advised Push Energy on its appeal against HMRC’s assessments of anti-dumping duty, countervailing duties and import VAT in respect of imports of solar panels into the UK from China.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Andy Brown