Professor Geraint Thomas, BA (Wales) DPhil (Oxon), Barrister (Inner Temple)

Thomas

Professor of Equity and Property Law

Location: Mile End
email: g.w.thomas@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7882 3964

Geraint Thomas joined Queen Mary in 1995 as a Senior Lecturer and in 2008 was promoted to Professor of Equity and Property Law. Before joining Queen Mary, he was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Kent at Canterbury. After attending Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts (History) degree with First Class Honours from the University of Wales in 1969, and then obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Oxford (Balliol College) in 1974. He then turned to the Law and passed his Bar Finals in 1976, being called to the Bar of the Inner Temple. Professor Thomas also practised at the Chancery Bar for over twenty years. Reported cases include: Re Poulton's Will Trusts (1987) 1 WLR 795 (powers of appointment), Re Drexel Burnham Lambert UK Pension Plan (1995) 1 WLR32 (conflict of interest in pension schemes), Reg v Exeter City Council, Ex parte JL Thomas & Co (1991) 1 QB 471 (judicial review).

Professor Thomas has written widely in all areas of Trusts Law (both domestic and foreign), Pensions Law and Tax Law. The second edition of his book on The Law of Trusts (Oxford University Press, 2010), co-authored with Alastair Hudson, has become one of the leading practitioner texts in the field. His book on Powers, 1st edn (Sweet & Maxwell, 1998) has become the leading text in its field. The second edition will be published by Oxford University Press in February, 2010. Both The Law of Trusts and Powers have been cited extensively in the higher courts of England and several Commonwealth jurisdictions. He has also written numerous articles and lectured widely on Trusts and Pensions and lectured widely on Trusts Law. Until recently, he was also the Deputy Editor of International Trust Laws.
Professor Thomas was a Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney Law School in 2006. He addressed the Australian Superannuation Lawyers' Annual Conference in Adelaide, in February, 2007, and delivered the Tenth Annual Nottingham Lecture at the International Trust and Tax Law Summit in New York in October 2007.

Publications:

Professor Thomas is author of Thomas on Powers (Sweet & Maxwell, Property and Conveyancing Library, 1998, xcviii and 654 pp), which has become the standard text on the subject for practitioners; and is also the author of The Law of Trusts (co-authored with A Hudson) (OUP, Oxford, 2004).   Together, these two books have been referred to in over a dozen judgments in the higher courts of England and Australia. The former work has been described by a Canadian judge as 'a remarkable achievement', and by the Pension Lawyer as a book that 'should sit next to Underhill and Hayton's Law of Trusts and Trustees in every pension lawyer's library'.

Other key publications include:

  • Taxation and Trusts (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1981)
  • Asset Protection Trusts' and 'Purpose Trusts, in John Glasson (ed), The International Trust (Jordans, Bristol, 2002; second edition in preparation) and also in International Trust Laws (looseleaf encyclopaedia: Jordans, Bristol, updated to 2001)
  • The Legal Position of the Voluntary Sector, in Jeremy Kendall and Martin Knapp The Voluntary Sector in the UK (Manchester University Press, 1996)
  • Nonprofit Law in the United Kingdom in Lester Salamon (ed), The International Guide to Nonprofit Law (John Wiley, New York, 1997)

He has published several articles on various aspects of trusts law, two of which on 'Trusts of Death Benefit Under Occupational Pension Schemes' were referred to extensively in the Law Commission's Report on The Rules Against Perpetuities and Excessive Accumulations (Law Com No 251) and resulted in changes to the Commission's original proposals.

Research interests:

Professor Thomas's research interests focus upon all aspects of domestic and overseas trusts (including estate planning, taxation of trusts, pension trusts and offshore trusts).

Supervision:

Professor Thomas welcomes proposals for postgraduate supervision in all areas of the Law of Trusts (including pension schemes and offshore trusts) and also legal problems affecting the elderly (Elder Law).