Recommendations
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With no small thanks to Lucy for her tenacity, polished and steely professionalism, sense of humour, attention to detail, and “can do” approach. We could not have achieved this without her and we are immensely grateful for Lucy’s advice and accessibility.
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Recognised as a Key Lawyer and a Rising Star
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Tenaciously digs her way through documents to come up with highly usable advice and solutions
Experience
I am a charity law specialist with a varied practice.
I advise on a range of legal issues that affect charities and not-for-profits of all sizes: models of philanthropy, setting up new charities, governance and constitutional issues, regulatory dealing with Charity Commission, grant funding arrangements and restructures including mergers and incorporations.
I have a particular interest in technical charity law issues and structures, such as trusts, endowments and Royal Charter charities and regularly engage with policy initiatives and legal changes in this area. My view is that a disproportionate amount of charity time and money is spent on administration and regulatory compliance and that this needs to change.
- I acted for the former trustees of Kids Company in relation to a Charity Commission inquiry and director disqualification proceedings brought by the Official Receiver post-winding up
- I advised a philanthropist on setting up new foundations in the UK and US and on the UK foundation’s governance, regulatory compliance and communications with the media
- I advised on a proposal to merge a national charity with 300 to 400 branch charities
- I worked on consolidating four military charities with overlapping charitable objects
- I advised a Royal Charter charity on the terms of 40 restricted funds to consolidate them within 7 larger funds with up-to-date purposes
- I advised a grant-making charitable trust on the scope of its charitable objects and historic grants made outside of them, trustee decision-making processes and restructuring as a CIO
- I worked on the merger of five permanent endowment funds with a combined value of £16 million
Areas of expertise:
Sectors
Qualifications and career
- University of Cambridge, MA Hons Classics, 2008
- BPP Law School, 2009-2010
- Paralegal, Bates Wells, 2010-2012
- Trainee Solicitor, Bates Wells (including secondment at Big Society Capital), 2012-2014
- Qualified as a Solicitor, September 2014
- Associate, July 2017
Pro bono, memberships, and appointments
- Trustee and Vice-Chair, Prisoners’ Advice Service
- Pro bono supporter of the Stephen Lloyds Awards
- Member of Charity Law Association
- Former Chair of the Bates Wells Employee Forum
Insights
