Charities & philanthropy
Our established reputation as one of the leading law firms advising charities has been enhanced by the acquisition of a number of significant new charity clients.
With our top ranking Private Client practice, we are particularly well placed to assist both UK and international families with their philanthropy needs.
Charities
Our Charity group is recognised as a leading team in this area of law. The team advises charities on all aspects of their legal needs including: property, tax, intellectual property, litigation, pensions, employment, legacies and other income, as well as advising on charity law itself. We regularly advise charities in relation to their dealings with the Charity Commission.
We work closely with our IP, Technology & Commercial group and the Arts & Heritage group. Our Pensions group has particular expertise in the charity sector, through its work with the Charity Finance Directors Group. Our Trust & Estates Disputes team includes known experts in the charity legacy field who understand the reputational and charity law aspects of charities pursuing and defending their interests in estates.
Many of the team members are themselves charity trustees.
Philanthropy
The Charity group advises wealthy individuals on all aspects of their philanthropic activities including tax, the most appropriate structure for achieving their aims and the administration of the particular charitable enterprise. We work with our clients to assist them in deciding the level of their ongoing participation so that they are able to have as much or as little direct involvement as their other commitments permit. Our involvement in the day to day running of a charitable enterprise involves issues such as onward donation, liaising with consultants on the ground both in the UK and overseas, advising on and preparing grant agreements as well as assisting with investment strategies, and dealing with the Charity Commission, Companies House and HMRC in relation to reporting requirements and tax repayment claims.
Experience
Charities
Mergers
We advised John Grooms in relation to their merger with The Shaftesbury Society. The merger of two of the largest disability charities raised a significant number of complex issues particularly in relation to the pension arrangements.
Charity Commission
Advising major charities in relation to the requirement to meet and report on public benefit.
Advising a top 100 charity in relation to its negotiations with the Charity Commission concerning its sole investment and obtaining agreement that it did not need to diversify.
Art
Acting for a high profile charitable foundation in connection with a dispute surrounding the provenance of an iconic painting it owned. Advising the trustees on strategies and tactics to employ in resolving the dispute across the UK, the US and Continental Europe.
Conservation
Advising two household name charities in relation to an overseas partnership involving the establishment of a nature reserve in a politically sensitive overseas jurisdiction. Our work included the establishment of a new charitable body and a detailed operational analysis of the project.
Pensions
Advising a major national charity on the complex pensions issues arising from the decentralisation of its organisation into a separate branch structure.
Advising the pension scheme trustees of one of the largest single-run art centres in the world on funding their final salary scheme and obtaining security for the scheme in relation to an ongoing funding shortfall.
Technology
Advising Street Kids International on the legal issues relating to its online activities, including data protection and e-commerce regulations. Advice included developing a new privacy policy and charity corporate restructuring issues for the trustees.
Risk management
Advising a charity on its activities involving the provision of adventure holidays to underprivileged children. Advice included health and safety issues and the steps to be taken to reduce the trustees’ exposure to personal injury claims.
Legacies
Advising an international charity where the executor had failed to notify it of its entitlement and misused estate funds. Our involvement included bringing the executor before the court to account for his administration of the estate, his subsequent removal and the pursuit and recovery of estate funds.
Acting for nine national charities where the professional executor was failing to distribute estate funds in a timely fashion. Having obtained an interim distribution of several hundred thousand pounds within days of being instructed, we went on to take over the running of the administration.
Philanthropy
Advising a wealthy continental client in relation to his wish to create a charitable body to make onward donations to overseas charities and individuals. The main issue was to ensure the recognition in the client’s home country that the charity was genuine and not motivated by tax evasion.
Advising a North American entrepreneur on the most tax efficient structure to enable donations to be given to overseas charitable entities where direct donations would have triggered an immediate charge to UK taxes.