Tax Disputes Associate (1-6 PQE)

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP in London is seeking an associate to join our Tax Disputes and Investigations team to handle specialist contentious tax matters. The role involves working closely with Hugh Gunson, Head of Tax Disputes and Investigations, and serving a broad client base across private wealth, family businesses, and corporates.

You will develop a broad practice across private client and corporate tax, with opportunities to contribute to articles, seminars, and client events.

Qualifications

• Applicants should have strong technical skills and ideally some relevant tax and/or litigation experience.
• Willingness to learn and develop across private client and corporate tax.
• Excellent client-facing and commercial awareness.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate good judgment and a legal/commercial understanding of client needs.
• Understand scope of task, manage time effectively and perform well under pressure.
• Take a hands-on approach to managing own files and a broad case load.
• Engage in client marketing and business development activities.
• Draft complex documents with minimal instruction and supervision.
• Provide client advice in a succinct, practical and persuasive manner.
• Apply a commercial approach to research and evaluate relevance and accuracy.
• Contribute to divisional knowledge and know-how initiatives.
• Comply with SRA Standards and Regulations and Principles.

Skills

Strong technical skills

Team player

Excellent IT skills

Client relationship building

Flexibility

Tools

MS Office

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity for an associate to join our Tax Disputes and Investigations team to work on specialist contentious tax matters. The role will involve working closely with Hugh Gunson, our Head of Tax Disputes and Investigations.

The team’s work is very broad, involving handling tax disputes and investigations for a wide range of clients, from internationally mobile high net worth clients and other private individuals, family businesses and trustees, through to entrepreneurs and corporates, both small and large. These cover the full range of UK taxes, both direct and indirect; including income tax, CGT, inheritance tax, SDLT, corporation tax and VAT. A significant element of the team’s work involves remedying unsuccessful planning (often involving complex trust arrangements), including claims for mistake and rectification in both the UK and offshore jurisdictions, as well as handling tax‑related professional negligence disputes and other trust and commercial disputes with a tax angle.

Tax disputes and investigations work is seen as a key growth area for the Firm. Hugh Gunson is ranked Band 4 Contentious Tax in Chambers and Band 1 Tax: Private Client in Chambers HNW, with the Firm ranked Band 2.

The Tax Disputes and Investigations Team sits within the Firm’s wider, market-leading Private Wealth Disputes team.

This role will support Hugh in continuing to grow and develop his and the Firm’s Tax Disputes and Investigations practice. There will also be an opportunity to work on business development initiatives in increasing the Firm’s profile by way of articles in legal and tax journals, engaging in client marketing, contributions to seminars and conferences etc.

Applicants should have strong technical skills and ideally some relevant tax and/or litigation experience. They should also be able to demonstrate a willingness to learn and develop. We are looking for someone with an appetite for developing a broad practice across the whole range of contentious matters, including both private client and corporate tax.

This is a role with considerable client contact, a large amount of responsibility and experience of a wide variety of disputes, often involving complex international subject matters and working closely with the Firm’s private wealth disputes, litigation, private client and corporate tax teams.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate good judgment and a good legal and commercial understanding of client’s particular needs
• Understand scope of task, manage time effectively and perform well under time and work pressures
• Take a ‘hands on’ approach to managing own files and a broad case load
• Have good technical ability and a willingness to be engaged in a broad range of matters
• Engage in client marketing and business development activities including attending internal and external events
• Draft more complex documents with minimum instruction and supervision
• Provide client advice in a succinct, practical and persuasive manner
• Apply a commercial approach to research and evaluate relevance and accuracy in delivery of advice
• Contribute to divisional knowledge and know‑how initiative’s
• Comply with all relevant legal and regulatory obligations including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Standards and Regulations, and Principles.

Person specification

• Be a strong team player
• Build rapport with clients and develop an effective working relationship
• Be flexible and willing to go the extra mile
• Have excellent all‑round IT skills, MS Office including Excel and Word
• Working together
• Integrity and respect
• Personal impact and growth
• Driving high standards

Hybrid working - We adopt a hybrid and flexible working approach, dependent on the requirements of the role and subject to manager approval.