Meet Our Dispute Resolution Specialists

Our experienced specialists provide clear, practical advice and representation in disputes.

Founder and Director. Barrister, called 1995. CEDR accredited mediator.

Julian founded Hickey & Co Solicitors to represent clients in investigations and disputes for people who need the person forming the strategy to also be the person guiding the case to the end. He works with all members of the Team, and assists in determining what the realistic outcome is, and works with the team on their matters throughout.

During his career he has practised as a solicitor and then as a barrister, which has given him significant insight into disputes and their resolution.

Julian’s work sits where commercial, legal and tax questions meet. He acts for companies, business owners, individuals and trustees. He also spent 10 years representing HMRC, which is useful for understanding how the other side builds and tests a case.

His practice experience covers contentious tax across the range, together with commercial chancery, company and partnership disputes, trusts, insolvency, professional negligence. He advises on complex investigations and appears at first instance and on appeal. He has experience of matters involving allegations of fraud, including criminal tax investigations. Julian is co-author of “A Practical Guide to Tax Disputes” published by Lexis.

JULIAN HICKEY, DIRECTOR AND BARRISTER: PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS & EDUCATION

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Professional

Barrister (licensed for self-employed practice)
Fellow Chartered Institute of Taxation (2012)
Solicitor Admitted April 2005, on Roll to 2014
Called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in Oct 1995
Chancery Bar Association
Revenue Bar Association
Member of the Association of Partnership Practitioners

Education

Ph.D (Intellectual Property and Tax), Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London. Examiners: Professor John Avery-Jones and Professor John Tiley
Inns of Court School of Law: 1994-95: Gray’s Inn, Very Competent
LL.M. (Tax) (Merit), London School of Economics
LLM (Corporate and Insolvency Law) (Merit), Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London
LLB (Hons), 2.1, Queen Mary, University of London

Professional Experience

2025 – present: Barrister, Burnell Chambers, co-founding member
2024 – 2025: Barrister, Exchequer Chambers
2023-2024: Barrister, Old Square Tax Chambers
2021-2023: Barrister, Addington Chambers
2016 – present: Barrister, St John’s Buildings Chambers, Manchester
2018 – 2020: Barrister, 9 Stone Buildings Chambers
2014-2018: Barrister, Temple Tax Chambers
2011 – 2013: Partner at Bird & Bird LLP
2010 to 2011: Partner at Lawrence Graham LLP
2006 to 2010: Partner Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
2005 to 2006: Senior Associate at Watson, Farley & Williams LLP
2003 to 2004: Barrister, 3 Temple Gardens Tax Chambers
2000 to 2003: Associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP
1996 to 1998: Research Fellow at Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London
1996 to 1997: Judicial Assistant to Mr Justice Evans-Lombe, Chancery Division

A substantial part of Julian’s practice has an international dimension. He has acted for individuals and businesses connected with the Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Dubai, the United States, Nevis, the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. He has worked in New York and in the Cayman Islands.

That work has included:

Corporate tax residence, central management and control, and dual residence questions arising from international holding structures. Julian acted for Development Securities plc in a corporate residence dispute that went to the Court of Appeal.
Trust disputes arising from structures in Nevis and the British Virgin Islands, including the extent of trustee powers and the rights of beneficiaries.
Commercial chancery claims and claims in mistake concerning cross jurisdiction holding structures, including proceedings in the Chancery Division of the High Court.
Double taxation agreements, mutual agreement procedures, transfer pricing, permanent establishments, double tax relief, exchange of information, withholding taxes and residence.
Transfer of Assets Abroad, Diverted Profits Tax, VAT, and tax enforcement in the United Kingdom and overseas.
Professional negligence claims and defences arising from international structures and commercial agreements.

Where a matter turns on the law of another jurisdiction, Julian instructs and coordinates local lawyers. Julian is also happy working as part of a team, leading where required for a client, and where appropriate instructing specialist members of the Bar across different areas of law.

Julian holds a PhD from the University of London in tax law relating to intellectual property and its exploitation. He is joint author of Taxation of Intellectual Property, published by Bloomsbury, A Practical Guide to Tax Disputes, published by Lexis.

He appears in courts and tribunals across the United Kingdom, including in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, as sole counsel and as part of larger teams.

Hickey & Co Solicitors is the trading name of Hickey Law Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, with Registered Number 17222345. The company is regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA), with SRA number 8016264.

The company’s registered address is 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ.

A disputes practice built around the person who does the work.

Hickey & Co Solicitors acts in disputes with HMRC, partnership and shareholder disputes, and professional negligence against tax and accountancy advisers. Clients are owner managed businesses, entrepreneurs, individuals with substantial personal exposure, partners, trustees and the professionals who advise them.

The firm handles investigations and contentious work only: disputes with HMRC from first enquiry through to appellate hearings, judicial review in a tax and public law setting.

The firm can also assist in disputes between partners, LLP members and shareholders, and claims arising from tax and accountancy advice that went wrong.

PERSONAL

Julian is a first-generation lawyer. His father and grandfather were engineers who ran the family business, J Hickey & Sons, based in Richmond, London.

He has twins, a girl and a boy, who ensure that he is constantly involved in learning new things with them. To the extent time permits, he is a keen beekeeper (Hickey Honey) and sailor.

Helen is a solicitor, qualified in 2018, and works with the firm as a consultant. Her practice covers all the principal taxes, judicial review and commercial litigation. She has extensive experience representing clients on HMRC appeals, VAT investigations, employment status and IR35 disputes, PAYE investigations, disclosures under Code of Practice 8 and Code of Practice 9, penalty disputes, discovery assessments and directors disqualification. She trained and practised at Irwin Mitchell LLP.

Jonathan has over thirty years of experience in the tax resolution field. He advises on a wide range of contentious tax issues, and specialises in tax litigation before the Tax Tribunals and the Higher Courts, as well as HMRC criminal investigations and defending clients charged with tax fraud.

Jonathan spent ten years at the Solicitor’s Office of HMRC, where he provided legal advice in a number of high-profile civil and criminal cases to specialist branches of the organisation. He has conducted cases before the Tax Tribunals, High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Jonathan is co-author of “A Practical Guide to Tax Disputes” published by Lexis, and lectures widely on tax contentious issues.

William Perrett is a tax investigation specialist with over 37 years of experience in HMRC including 18 years as a Tax Investigator in specialist teams dealing with the most complex and difficult civil enquiries. He is an accredited Code 9 investigator and is equally comfortable with Code 8 investigations.

William now represents taxpayers in complex tax investigations and disputes, drawing on his experience of how HMRC operates, its powers and information gathering capacity. His aim is to ensure his clients are treated fairly & to bring HMRC interventions to a conclusion in the most timely and cost effective manner.

Jesminara Rahman is a tax investigation specialist with over 25 years of experience. A former HMRC Tax Inspector and Compliance Manager, she was also HMRC’s ADR Design Lead, contributing to the national rollout of Alternative Dispute Resolution, a mediation process for tax disputes that have reached an impasse. She is the author of A Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution in the UK, published by Bloomsbury Professional.

She now represents taxpayers in complex tax investigations and disputes, drawing on her experience on both sides of the tax system; which gives her a distinctive 360 degree perspective on how HMRC operates, how tax disputes arise and how they can be resolved effectively.

Jonathan is a CEDR-accredited and CMC-registered mediator. His mediation practice encompasses general commercial, company, construction, insolvency, professional negligence, property and cross-border disputes.

Jonathan’s interest in mediation developed in Canada where he experienced the value of negotiated resolution in substantial commercial, corporate and contentious trust disputes at Canada’s leading global ADR company where he learnt that every aspect of a mediation needs to be managed with precision, efficiency and discretion. He subsequently developed his dispute-resolution practice in the UK and internationally, including through work on complex matters arising in the Caribbean and offshore jurisdictions.

Jonathan approaches each mediation with empathy, careful preparation and commercial realism. He recognises that a dispute is rarely concerned solely with legal rights: financial pressures, professional reputations, continuing relationships and personal dynamics may all affect the parties’ ability to reach agreement. He takes time to understand those underlying interests and to establish a process in which each party feels heard and able to participate effectively.