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Harbottle & Lewis has been involved with charities and the broader voluntary and community sector since the firm was founded in 1955. We work with numerous charities, large and small, across a wide range of fields within the sector. All the lawyers in our Charities Group care deeply about the sector and many are charity board members themselves. As a result, we know our clients and their issues well, and are able to provide a more effective, tailor-made service.

The firm’s expertise in media, entertainment and communications means that we have a market-leading understanding of many emerging issues for charities including, online fundraising, data protection and intellectual property exploitation and protection.

Specialist Advice

Our areas of advice include:

• Charitable Status, Formation and Constitutional – we provide advice on charity formation, constitutional reviews, governance, trustee duties, mergers and demergers, joint ventures and negotiations with the Charity Commission.
• Trading, Commercial and Tax – we advise on a broad range of commercial agreements and fundraising agreements, tax and VAT and Public Sector Delivery Contracts (PSD). Expertise also includes experience of mergers and demergers, the application of cy-pres, winding-up investments and appeals.
• Charity Commission Inquiries – we advise charities on all aspects of Charity Commission regulation, inquiries and investigations. Our team has extensive experience of charity proceedings.
• Intellectual Property – we are experts in all aspects of intellectual property including brand protection and development, data protection, copyright, domain names, enforcement and dispute resolution and securing trade marks.
• Fundraising, Advertising and Marketing – we advise on control of fundraising and fundraising compliance encompassing a diverse spread of events and initiative, including in relation to charity concerts, events and telethons; sponsorship deals, merchandising, brand protection and development and arrangements with celebrities and sports promoters. We also provide specialist advice on advertising, campaigning and media relations.
• Property – sales and dispositions, statutory requirements including particular rules on mortgaging charity land, grants including agreements with local authorities and government agencies.

We also have expertise in probate, wills, legacies and trusts as well as first rate company secretarial experience. We are well known for our specialist e-commerce/technology work and our knowledge of new media and digital media generally.

Useful Information

If you would like to receive legal updates on the charities sector, you can register for our Charities eBulletin.

Contact

For further information please contact David Scott.