David qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser with a “Big 4” international practice, where he spent 8 years specialising in tax planning and tax mitigation advice to owner-managed businesses. He brought that expertise to Ribchesters when he became a partner in 1994, and in 2013 he was appointed a director of Ribchester Smith & Law, then a division of Ribchesters. He has since gained wide recognition as a specialist in tax planning, the property sector and in advising on business acquisitions and disposals. David also has extensive tax investigation experience and leads the firm’s tax investigations and litigation support services. Rather than covering the wider practice, David now dedicates his expertise wholly to Ribchester, Smith & Law clients matters. David’s professional philosophy is that no challenge is insurmountable, and he approaches life away from work in a similar fashion! His main interests are skiing, running up and down mountains (having competed in more than 250 races, including 26 Ben Nevis races) cycling (including cycling more than 3,000 miles through Spain, Morocco, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania in recent years raising more than £15,000 for charity).