is a son of the manse. Quite how this upbringing led him to the Bar, and to the Tax Bar in particular is unclear. In any event he was called to the Bar in 1973 and spent a year in pupillage with Francis Brennan (deceased), a past member of chambers. He became a member of Chambers in 1974 and has remained here ever since, taking silk in 1991.

For much of his early years at the Bar, his work was concentrated on the taxation of real property transactions, having written or contributed to books both on development gains tax and development land tax. He has retained an interest in this area of work and more recently the second edition of the book "VAT and Property", co-written with John Walters, was published. No longer is his work concentrated in this area, however, and it now encompasses a wide variety of both advisory and advocacy work, concerning taxes both direct and indirect. He appears in tax cases in courts and tribunals at all levels.

He sees the future of the Tax Bar, and his future, as very much linked to advocacy work and to advisory work where the unique input of a barrister stems from his experience in court. What a barrister can do more easily than most is to form a view of the viability of arrangements in the light of their likely treatment by a judge.

Away from the profession his interests are very much of a physical nature and he participates happily, if incompetently, in many sports. He is married with three sons.

He is the current Chairman of the Revenue Bar Association

David Goy has appeared in the following recent cases:-

United Utilities v. C&E [2004] STC 727 (VAT on betting – a decision now referred to the European Court)
BMBF v. Mawson [2005] STC 1 (finance leasing)
C&E v. Latchmere Properties Ltd [2005] STC 731 (VAT in respect of a development agreement)
Weston v. Garnett [2005] STC 617 (CGT and qualifying corporate bonds)
Abbey National plc v. C&E [2005] STI 906 (VAT on “virtual” leases).