Matthew Donmall is recognised as a leading junior in ‘Tax: VAT and Excise’ and ‘Valuation & Rating’ by the Legal 500 and is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of counsel.

Matt has expertise in all matters of indirect taxation, including VAT, import and customs duties, excise duties, gaming duties, as well as the interface between tax law and public law. He has appeared in tribunals and courts all the way to the Supreme Court. He is regularly instructed in complex multi-million pound, high profile cases. He has particular experience with disputes involving financial services and pensions, public law arguments, partial exemption methods, attribution and apportionment arguments, single / multiple supply issues, and classification disputes in respect of technological products.

His busy rating and council tax practice involves both advisory and advocacy instructions across the range of issues arising in these areas, including valuation methods, valuation disputes, deletion proposals, non-domestic / domestic distinctions, and technical jurisdictional points. He has worked on a wide variety of property types, including retail, power plants, petrol stations, warehouses, office blocks, agricultural buildings, hotels, waste processing stations and public amenities. Having appeared in the leading case of SJ&J Monk v Newbigin, Matt frequently acts in deletion cases involving repair, refurbishment and schemes of work.

The son of two doctors, Matt has medicine in the family. His expertise in clinical negligence spans both liability and quantum issues, and the difficult points of causation that can intersect them. He has experience across the spectrum of medical areas, including obstetric / perinatal injury; gastroenterology; delayed cancer diagnosis; orthopaedic and other surgery; general practice, ophthalmology and dentistry.

Outside the law and where the demands of his family allow, Matt enjoys tennis, cycling and the occasional triathlon.

Indirect Tax & Rating

Matt is recognised as a ‘Leading Junior’ by both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500. Recent editorial includes:

  • “Exceptionally bright.  Constructs thorough and excellent arguments.”
  • “Matt appears regularly in cases concerning repair and refurbishment. He is a consistently strong advocate. “
  • “Matt is fantastic. When he is advancing a point, he does so fairly and reasonably.”
  • “Matthew Donmall is an experienced public sector litigator.”

Selected Cases

Indirect Tax  Rating & Council Tax *  denotes cases where led by KC
Clinical Negligence

Selected Cases

  • AW v Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust (2023): liability trial concerning allegation of negligent diagnosis of ADHD and prescription of medication.
  • SO v Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2020): liability trial concerning total hip replacement.
  • JL v Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (2019): four-day liability trial of claim of extravasation injury.
  • TW (by mother MW) v Peterborough & Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2019):cerebral palsy claim, led by Henry Witcomb KC.
  • VC v Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2018):liability trial concerning paracetamol administration to patient after admission for overdose.

“Matt appears regularly in cases concerning repair and refurbishment. He is a consistently strong advocate.”

Legal 500 2026

“Exceptionally bright. Constructs thorough and excellent arguments.”

Legal 500 2025

Appointments

  • Junior Counsel to the Crown A Panel (2021-present)
  • Junior Counsel to the Crown B Panel (2015 – 2020)
  • Junior Counsel to the Crown C Panel (until 2015)

Education

  • Bar Vocational Course (Outstanding), Inns of Court School of Law (2006)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Distinction), City University, London (2005)
  • MPhil International Relations, Oxford University (2002)
  • BA History (Double First), Cambridge University (2000)

Publications

  • Contributor to the 1COR Quarterly Medical Law Review (QMLR)

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