Carl Islam
B.Soc.Sc (Joint Honours) (Law and Political Science) (Keele), LLM(Exon)(International Business Law), Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (non-practising), of Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, TEP. Member of the South Eastern Circuit, which includes London (http://www.southeastcircuit.org.uk/), the Chancery Bar Association (www.chba.org.uk), the Revenue Bar Association (www.revenue-bar.org), and a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (http://www.step.org), belonging to the STEP Contentious Trusts and Estates Special Interest Group.
Curriculum Vitae
I have over 20 years experience gained both in-house as corporate counsel, and as a private client lawyer practising as a Solicitor. At Lincoln's Inn I was awarded second place in the Crowther Advocacy Shield competition and undertook pupillage in 7 Stone Buildings (Maitland Chambers) as the pupil of His Honour Mr. Justice Davis QC. I re-qualified as a Solicitor and was articled at Howard Kennedy in London. Before setting up my own commercial and private client law office in 2001, I worked in-house as an international power projects lawyer for Rolls-Royce and for Alstom (in Paris), and as a civil litigator for Mills & Co Solicitors in Newcastle upon Tyne.
As a specialist sole-practitioner at the Chancery Bar of England and Wales, I provide the following services to accountants, tax advisors, and solicitors:
- Estate planning (excluding technical tax advice and computations provided by accountants and CTA’s with whom I work as part of a multi-disciplinary team);
- Drafting wills, trusts, contracts, and deeds of variation; and
- Contract, Will, Trust, Inheritance Tax, and Professional Negligence ADR and Litigation (exercising rights of audience in all courts and proceedings).
US style contingency fee litigation was introduced into England and Wales on 1 April 2013. In an appropriate case, in return for a fixed percentage of the monetary amount agreed in a settlement or awarded by the court, I will consider acting for a claimant on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. This work will be carried out under the terms of the model Chancery Bar Association Damages Based Agreement (LINK). The cases I will consider include contract, tort, equity, and intellectual property claims assessed by reference to a wrong-doer’s gain, rather than the claimant’s loss. This is an alternative basis to the award of damages by reference to the claimant’s financially measurable loss, which was recognised in English law following the ruling of the House of Lords in Attorney General v Blake (2000).
I am also a registered Public Access practitioner and can be instructed directly by members of the public (including executors and trustees) without the involvement of a solicitor. This enables a member of the public to instruct me directly to visit them at home or at their family accountant’s offices in order to discuss their planning needs and requirements, the terms of their draft will, and to attend execution of the will to ensure compliance with the legal formalities. I can provide an estimate once work has been scoped and agreed.
To contact me please send an e-mail to carl@ihtbar and I will call you to arrange an initial free meeting subject to location and availability.
To download a short pdf* guide to my services please click this link: My Services.*
To download my free guide to Inheritance Tax planning please click on this link: Inheritance Tax Planning Guide.*
‘I have worked with Carl Islam on joint clients as a financial planner and financial adviser, with him providing the legal expertise on some very complicated cases. His knowledge and ability to identify new strategies and then to implement them is much appreciated by clients. Carl is a highly sought after legal strategist, especially with advanced trust planning and wills construction, and I would recommend him to clients and other advisers. He is both solicitor and barrister and author of note.'
Tony Granger May 27 2012 (recommending Carl’s work on Linked-In).
* Please note that you will need a suitable pdf reader to view the document, if you need to download the software please click your choice of link below: Adobe Reader Foxit PDF Reader
