Instructed on Gibraltar's insurance regulatory framework and market practice, with tribunal experience giving oral evidence under cross-examination.
I act as an expert witness on the Gibraltar insurance regulatory framework, market practice for insurers and insurance managers, and outsourcing arrangements between Gibraltar insurers and their UK or EU service providers — drawing on 45 years in the industry, almost 40 of them practising in Gibraltar, and direct experience of the regulatory relationship with the GFSC since 1987.
[2018] UKFTT 0027 (TC)
My most substantial expert witness instruction to date was in this First-Tier Tax Tribunal case, concerning VAT recovery on services supplied by a UK broker to a Gibraltar-based motor insurer. I produced an expert report on Gibraltar's insurance regulatory framework and on market practice for outsourcing arrangements, and gave oral evidence at the tribunal hearing in London, where I was cross-examined by HMRC's counsel.
The case was ultimately decided on a VAT point of law rather than the regulatory ground my evidence addressed — a useful reminder that expert evidence can be sound and still prove immaterial to the final decision. What the instruction does demonstrate is the ability to produce a rigorous, defensible technical opinion and stand behind it under adversarial cross-examination.
I've completed a small number of further expert witness instructions, and I'm glad to provide detail — including written opinions, on request — for anyone considering an instruction.
