Richard Sowler has more than 30 years experience in giving high-level tax and other legal advice to companies, trusts and individuals in the UK and overseas. He was called to the bar in 1974 and practised until recruited by the successor of the Rossminster Group to negotiate with the Inland Revenue on the settlement liabilities for their failed tax avoidance schemes. He later edited the British Tax Reporter and became a solicitor, initially as Head of Tax and Trusts at Bircham & Co. He progressed through the Price Waterhouse Tax and Legal Team, in the Banking and Capital Markets and International Structuring groups, to become Head of Tax at City firm Richards Butler. He returned to the bar in 2009, having been a Legal Adviser on tax issues to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency while continuing in private practice.
He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in 1991, winning the Institutes Thesis Prize. He was appointed a part-time judge of the Manx VAT and Duties Tribunal in November 2013.
He was a keen member of the Territorial Army, commanding the Northumberland Hussars in the early 1980s and was awarded the Territorial Decoration.
He was also for six years Senior Independent Director of the Nottingham Friendly Assurance Society until its transfer of undertakings to Manchester Oddfellows Friendly Society in 2009.