Sophie Cass

Experience

I had a previous life as a private client lawyer before joining Bates Wells in March 2018 as part of the Charity & Social Enterprise department to advise organisations and individuals on all things charitable.

My practice is wide and covers the full range of charity governance matters with a particular specialism in trusts and permanent endowment; faith-based organisations; and charity legacies as part of the Legacies team.

Managing a statutory inquiry

I acted for the trustees of a charity that was subject to a statutory inquiry and appointment of an interim manager, helping the trustees to navigate a difficult situation and on their behalf liaising and corresponding directly with the Charity Commission, interim manager, and various other regulators and stakeholders.
Victorian school trusts

I advised the trustees of a church school on the oddities of a particular piece of Victorian legislation (School Sites Act 1841) that requires them to walk a careful line while they manage the move from their existing land to a new school site.
Releasing permanent endowment

I advised a parochial church council on the terms of a permanent endowment they had received as a legacy decades ago, and successfully obtained Charity Commission consent to a section 282 resolution to release the restriction, freeing up much needed capital to allow the church to start an exciting building project.

I advised a charitable residuary beneficiary under a will in challenging actions of an executor
I advised a large donor-advised fund on an international grant to an NGO
I have advised a local community group on challenging a trustee’s application to the Charity Commission for a scheme to dispose of charitable property
I advised a grant-making charitable trust on the scope of its charitable objects and the benefits of restructuring as a CIO
I have advised an unincorporated association on a complex incorporation as a charitable company limited by guarantee and merger involving ten associated and subsidiary entities
I offer trusts law advice including establishment of charitable trusts, amending trust deed and advice on trustee issues
I advise on Cy-près schemes
I have assisted clients with Ex gratia payments

Charity

Charity Legacies

Charities

University of Oxford (Corpus Christi college), BA in Jurisprudence, 2012
BPP Law School, Legal Practice Course (Distinction), 2013
Trainee solicitor at Boodle Hatfield, 2013 – 2015
Associate solicitor at Collyer Bristow, Private Client department, September 2015 – February 2018
STEP Diploma in Trusts and Estates (England and Wales), November 2017