Barrister, Outer Temple Chambers

David commenced legal practice in 1974. He is admitted to practise in Australia, England and Wales (Lincoln’s Inn), the Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, New York (as a Legal Consultant), New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

He currently practises in Dubai, London, and Abu Dhabi (Outer Temple Chambers), Sydney (Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers) and Brisbane (Sir Harry Gibbs Chambers). He has acted for Commonwealth and State Governments as well as individuals and corporations. David was President of the Taxation Institute of Australia from 1993 to 1995, and of the Asia Oceania Tax Consultants’ Association from 1996 to 2000.

He has lectured at the University of Sydney for the Master of Taxation course, the University of Queensland for the Master of Laws course and served as an Adjunct Professor of the University of Queensland. He is the co-editor of the Oxford University Press Journal Trusts & Trustees.

He was the Inaugural Chairman of the STEP International Client Special Interest Group, was Deputy Chair and a director of STEP and a member of its World Wide Council and various Committees, and is a co-chair of the United Arab Emirates Chapter of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Section, an Academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, a Member of the Middle East and North Africa Branch Committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (UK), a member of the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers, a Freeman of the City of London and an Honorary Member of the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong. In 2016 he chaired the DIFC’s Wealth Management Review Working Group.

David is listed in the Taxation Category in the Australian Financial Review/Best Lawyers review of the Australian Legal Profession in 2008 and all later years and in 2014 was the Tax Institute’s Chartered Tax Adviser of the Year. In 2010 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon) for his services to Australia-Japan relations. In 2012 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for, among other things, “service … to taxation law and legal education.” Since 2016, he has been recognised by Legal Week and The American Lawyer as part of the Private Client Global Elite.

Other key activities include:

• Chairing the DIFC’s Wealth Management Review Working Group, which recommended restructuring of the DIFC’s wealth management offer;
• Subsequently drafting the Foundations Law and amendments to the Trust Law (peer reviews available if required);
• Following Chambers’ redraft of the Companies Law, Drafting the Companies Regulations, Operating Law and Regulations (which cover the whole gamut of the regulation of the resitereed entities in the DIFC);
• Drafting the Common Reporting Standard Law and Regulations and Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Regulations;
• Drafting the Astana International Financial Centre Trust Regulations;
• Drafting the Ras al Khaimah Foundations Regulations;
• On a Pro Bono basis, reviewed the KIFC’s Trust Law.