Profile
Year of Call:
1996Year of Silk:
2013Overview
A preeminent King’s Counsel, Mark specialises in all aspects of revenue law, trust law and administrative law. He also has chambers at Ground Floor, Wentworth Chambers, Sydney.
Mark has provided complex advice to Australia’s leading corporate groups, high net wealth individuals, and foreign investors in relation to proposed and executed domestic and cross-border property and financial transactions (including in estate and family law contexts). He has appeared for and against Commonwealth and State revenue authorities, including in respect of excesses of power in administrative decision-making.
In relation to his taxation expertise, he is a Chartered Tax Advisor and accepts direct briefs from accounting firms to advise front-end and back-end, to settle objections and private ruling applications, to represent taxpayers at ATO interviews and before their internal review Panels, and to negotiate settlements.
Mark has been an active proponent of tax law and trust law reforms. He regularly delivers papers in Australia and internationally. His papers have been published in taxation journals and law reviews.
Experience
Before being called to the Bar, Mark worked as an Associate to Justice Hartigan of the Federal Court, as a tax advisor at PriceWaterhouse, as a solicitor at Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst), and at Deutsche Bank Sydney in Capital Markets. Having previously lectured at Bond University (in contract law and taxation law), Mark has maintained his interest in academia, teaching post-graduate subjects in trust law and in taxation, and supervising Masters theses.
Mark holds a Doctor of Juridical Studies from the University of Sydney and the pre-eminent post-graduate law degree – the University of Oxford’s Bachelor of Civil Law. His Doctoral Thesis concerned the rights of beneficiaries in a capital gains tax context and his suggested tax reforms formed the basis for a joint taxation industry submission to the Tax Law Improvement Project in rewriting the Tax Act. He also holds a Bachelor of Laws (with honours) and a Bachelor of Business (Accountancy) (with distinction) from QUT.
Recommendations
Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific 2017-2025 – Listed as a leading KC for Tax “a go-to man for more cutting-edge work“, “reputed in the New South Wales and Queensland markets“, “he is completely fearless as an advocate, very fast and very quick on his feet” and “the guy you want for when prospects seem limited or when you have run out of ideas; he’ll come up with them“.
Chambers & Partners Global 2021-2025 – Listed as a leading KC for Tax.
Australian Financial Review’s Best Lawyers
2022-26 – Listed for Tax Law and Trusts and Estates, 2025 ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Tax
2017-2021 – Listed for Tax Law. Recognised in 2021 as ‘The Best Lawyer’ in Tax Law in the location
Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession – Leading Tax Barrister (Queensland) 2015-2019 & 2022-24, Preeminent 2020-2021; (Australia) Leading 2015
Who’s Who Legal – Leading Corporate Tax: Advisory (Barrister, Australia, 2018, 2021 & 2022)
Appointments
2013 Appointed as Queen’s Counsel
1996 Admitted to the Bar (Queensland)
1993 Admitted to the Bar (New South Wales and ACT)
Member
Appointed as Queen’s Counsel
Chartered Tax Advisor, The Tax Institute
Education
1996 Doctor of Juridical Studies: University of Sydney
1992 Bachelor of Civil Law: University of Oxford
1990 Bachelor of Laws (Honours): Queensland University of Technology
1990 Bachelor of Business (Accountancy): Queensland University of Technology
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