QC awarded Honorary Fellowship

Graham Aaronson QC was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the Institute’s President’s Luncheon, held at Merchant Taylors' Hall, London, today (Tuesday).

Aaronson receives the award in recognition of his contribution to tax policy and administration, as well as his lengthy and impressive tax litigation career. He is one of the leading tax QCs, and has argued many of the highest profile tax cases, including BMBF v Mawson (a landmark case in the application to tax law of the modern ‘purposive’ approach to statutory construction).

In 2010 he was commissioned by the government to lead a study into tackling tax avoidance which recommended the creation of a General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR). The GAAR, based on his draft legislation, was brought into law in Finance Act 2013. He then served as chairman of the Interim Advisory Panel for the GAAR, which produced the guidelines for the GAAR’s operations.

Aaronson is a former Chairman of both the Revenue Bar Association, between 1995 and 1998, and the IFS’s Tax Law Review Committee, from 1994 to 1997.

Notes for editors

1. Graham Aaronson QC is a founder partner of Joseph Hage Aaronson LLP. Having first practised in commercial law, he specialised in tax law and moved to Pump Court. While at Pump Court he dealt with all aspects of UK tax law, with emphasis on tax litigation. As a QC, Aaronson specialised in commercial taxation, with sub-specialties in transfer pricing, oil and gas taxation, life assurance office taxation, structured finance, EU tax law and State Aid. He has advised or represented some major corporations conducting business in the UK, appearing in many landmark cases such as BMBF v Mawson. Aaronson was a pioneer in exploring the application of EU law to the UK corporation tax regime in the ground-breaking Hoechst case, and since then has been the lead counsel in most of the EU law-based group litigation actions dealing with corporation tax.

2. CIOT Hon Fellowships – full list
The Rt Hon Lord Rees  1966
Lord Mackay Of Clashfern  1981
Sir Stephen Oliver QC  1996
Sir Anthony Battishill GCB  1997
Dame Valerie Strachan DCB  1998
Mr D Brodie  1999
Rt Hon Lord Howe of Aberavon CH QC  2000
Dr J F Avery Jones CBE  2001
Mr R J Ison ATT  2002
Professor H Hamaekers  2004
Mr R L Jennings ATT  2004
Rt Hon The Lord Hoffmann  2005
Rt Hon The Lord Lawson of Blaby PC  2006
Mr B W Sutherland CBE FCA  2006
Paddy Millard 2007
Sir Andrew Park  2007
Prof. John Tiley  2008
David Milne QC 2008
Rt Hon The Lord Healey  2009
John Kay 2009
Leonard Beighton CB  2010
Robert A Dommett   2010
Robert (Bob) Davies   2013
Prof Judith Freedman CBE  2014
Dame Fiona & Nicholas Woolf  2014
Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP 2015
Stephen Banyard  2016
Judge Howard Nowlan 2016
Paul Johnson, 2017
Professor Michael Devereux, 2017
Graham Aaronson QC, 2018

Generally Honorary Fellowships have been presented at the CIOT President’s Luncheon in the January of the year following the year of award