Meet VWV's Charities Team
The team is led by Con Alexander with support from six other partners and 10 lawyers specialising in charity law. The team is also supported by two legal assistants and two administrators.
What Work Does the Team Do?
We act for over 900 charities, ranging from operating charities to endowed trusts and foundations and from large charities with a national and international presence to smaller organisations. The team specialises in advising charities and their trustees on the full range of governance issues with which our clients engage, including:
- changes to governing documents
- Charity Commission investigations and inquiries
- Charity Commission schemes and orders
- collaborations, joint ventures and merges
- duties and powers of charity trustees
- endowment
- fundraising
- grant making and trust administration
- registration with the Charity Commission
- restructuring
- serious incident reporting
- strategic changes
- trading
We also work closely with other teams in VWV to advise our charity clients on the full range of legal issues they face. This includes in relation to commercial contracts, data and information, dispute resolution, employment and pensions, insolvency and restricting, property, reputation management, safeguarding, tax and VAT.
How Have We Helped VWV Approach Clients in the Past?
We are often asked to advise in relation to the setting up of new charities and registration with the Charity Commission. We have recently advised a VWV Approach client on establishing two new charities to protect community assets both now and in the future.
We initially provided advice in relation to legal structures and governance arrangements including who would have control over the new charities and who the trustees would be, taking into consideration complexities arising as a result of the involvement of a local authority. This helped the client to identify the most suitable legal structure and governance model.
We established a charitable company limited by guarantee and a charitable trust, advising on and drafting the relevant governing documents and drafting and submitting applications for registration with the Charity Commission. We also helped the client to respond to questions raised by the Charity Commission which resulted in the successful registration of the two charities.
Our experience of setting up new charities and our frequent and varied engagement with the Charity Commission allows us to provide the most pragmatic advice to clients when establishing new charities.
What Our Clients Say About Us?
The team is ranked highly in Legal Directories and our clients say:
"The range of skills and complexity VWV offers is exceptional and vital to our needs."
"The team at VWV understood the issues at stake and they were able to walk us through the pros and cons of the options available to us. The team is always willing to help."
If you would like to refer a Charities matter, please contact Jo Campbell at VWV Approach on 07733 226212, or complete the form below.