Clair qualified as a barrister in 2005 and went into practice in the corporate tax team at Allen & Overy LLP, subsequently practising at Farrer & Co LLP and finally at Stone King LLP. As a practitioner they advised on all aspects of UK direct and indirect tax, with a particular focus on complex corporate, financial and property transactions, international issues, charities, and disputes with HMRC. They left practice in 2018 to pursue an academic career, and completed a PhD on the political economy of international corporate tax reform in 2020. Alongside their practice and their research activities, they have collaborated with various NGOs and other civil society actors on a number of high-profile tax justice campaigns and policy initiatives.
Clair’s research interests include (i) tax avoidance (ii) the relationship between international corporate tax norms and global value chains, (iii) the state, capital, and the corporate form, and (iv) value theory in classical political economy and in contemporary Marxism.
Tax law and policy.