Gareth Rhys successful for Respondent in a statutory appeal to the High Court - Jan 2025
Gareth accepts instructions across all of 1 Crown Office Row’s practice areas and has a broad practice. He has experience acting for Claimants and Defendants working on matters relating to taxation, customs, environmental law, medical law, personal injury, immigration, human rights and public law, as well as public inquiries and inquests (including Article 2 inquests).
Gareth is currently instructed by Baroness Hallett to act as junior counsel to the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry. He was counsel for Module 2 of the Inquiry, investigating central political decision-making, and is currently counsel for Module 9 considering the government’s economic responses.
Gareth is a member of the Attorney General’s London C Panel of counsel. He undertakes a wide range of government work, including revenue law, customs, human rights and immigration. Gareth’s background is in public and revenue law. For two years, he was a government barrister at HMRC. He also spent a period as Crown Counsel in St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, advising the Attorney General and acting for the St Helena Government in civil and constitutional proceedings.
Before coming to 1 Crown Office Row, Gareth spent a year as Judicial Assistant to Lady Justice Andrews DBE and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith in the Court of Appeal. This gave him valuable experience of a breadth of areas of law, including public law, tax, immigration, environmental, employment and commercial law, and informs his practice. He also helped Andrews LJ update Sweet & Maxwell’s “Law of Guarantees” (8th edition).
Gareth is a Commissioner of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission for St Helena.
Gareth holds a first-class honours degree in Law from Queen Mary University of London, during which he received several awards including the Queen Mary Jurisprudence and Legal Theory Prize for outstanding academic achievement. Gareth also has a Masters degree in Taxation with Distinction from Christ Church, University of Oxford.
Gareth maintains a keen interest in art and architecture and holds an MA in History of Art from Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. Gareth worked on a number of art law matters while at HMRC and welcomes instructions in this area.
Outside his professional role, Gareth has been a supervisor on the Pink Law project at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre in Mile End, East London since 2020. This is a pro bono initiative that provides practical legal advice to members of the LGBTQIA+ community on a range of legal issues, such as obtaining asylum, medical treatment, housing and benefits.
For recreation, Gareth enjoys hillwalking with his husband, mainly in Scotland and the Alps. He is also an enthusiastic skier and used to race with the Ski Club Oz-Allemont. Gareth likes studying languages and speaks several European languages to a proficient level.
Tax & CustomsGareth accepts instructions across revenue and customs law. He appears led and unled in the Tax Tribunal and has experience of specialist personal and capital taxes (including Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, charity sector taxation issues, trusts, foreign income, dividends and royalties, and domicile and residence issues); VAT, including classification and relief from VAT on bad debts; and tax-related judicial review.
Gareth worked on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, advising HM Treasury and other departments on revenue and customs issues in connection with the UK’s exit. This was during “tunnel” negotiations in the final months before the end of the Transition Period.
Selected Cases
- Chisnall & others v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 857 (TC) concerning the valuation of shares listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and corresponding relief pursuant to s587B of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.
- Advising an investment fund on the availability and quantum of bad debt relief under Regulation 165A of the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995/2518.
- Advising on the classification of protein bars as standard rated confectionary rather than zero rated flapjacks.
- During pupillage, Gareth worked on Jersey Choice Ltd v HM Treasury [2021] UKSC 5 concerning a Francovich damages claim relating to the removal of Low Value Consignment Relief from VAT by s199(3) FA 2012(3) of the Finance Act 2012.
- Skatteforvaltningen (Danish Customs and Tax Divisions) v Solo Capital Partners LLP (In Special Administration) [2022] EWCA Civ 234 concerning the Danish Customs and Tax Administration's claims for the recovery of tax refunds and their admissibility before the English courts by reason of the Revenue Rule (Rule 3(1) of Dicey, Morris & Collins on the Conflict of Laws).
- HMRC v K Murphy [2022] EWCA Civ 1112 concerning the meaning of the term “profit” as it is used in s62(2)(b) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003
- R (DK) v HMRC [2022] EWCA Civ 120 concerning claims for backdated tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002 and whether they are valid for the period before a person is recognised as a refugee.
Gareth accepts instructions across all areas of public law and human rights. He is a member of the Attorney General’s London C panel of Counsel.
Selected Cases
- Gareth appeared as sole counsel in the Supreme Court of St Helena in a human rights claim brought under the Constitution by a former elected Member of St Helena’s legislature. The alleged breaches arose from the conditions at HMP Jamestown during the Claimant’s time in remand. It was the first claim to involve the human rights provisions of the St Helena Constitution. Gareth is instructed on six more associated human rights claims.
- Advising a potential intervener on the judicial review of the Home Office’s use of Wethersfield Airfield as a site to accommodate asylum-seekers on the basis that the Home Office failed to adopt adequate procedures for screening and monitoring vulnerabilities that made them unsuitable for accommodation on a large scale former military site.
- R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for International Trade/Export Credits Guarantee Department (UK Export Finance) [2022] EWHC 568 (Admin) a judicial review concerning the lawfulness of the decision by the Secretary of State for International Trade to finance a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique in light of the UK’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
- R (Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 37 concerning the definition of Zambrano carers in the context of the European Union Settlement Scheme.
- R (Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court [2021] EWHC 3013 (Admin), a judicial review concerning whether an administrator appointed under Part II of the Insolvency Act 1986 is an "officer" of the company within the meaning of the phrase "director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate" so as to fall within s194(3) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Gareth has been instructed as junior counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry since his appointment by Baroness Hallett in 2023. He was initially instructed on Module 2, working on core political and administrative governance and decision-making for the UK, including the initial response, the implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions, central government decision making, political and civil service performance as well as the effectiveness of relationships with governments in the devolved administrations and local and voluntary sectors. He is currently instructed on Module 9 looking at the economic support for business, jobs, the self-employed, vulnerable people, and those on benefits, and the impact of key economic interventions.
During pupillage, Gareth worked for another member of chambers who was instructed as counsel to the Infected Blood Inquiry. His advice was tendered to the Chair of the Inquiry.
Gareth accepts instructions on environmental law matters, including actions in nuisance and environmental judicial review. He has advised on a claim for nuisance in respect of a mushroom substrate manufacturing facility and a judicial review of the issue of tree felling licenses by the Forestry Commission.
Gareth accepts instructions for both registrants and regulators. He regularly appears in the High Court on behalf of professional regulators.
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