Harbottle & Lewis has been involved with charities and the broader voluntary and community sector since the firm was founded in 1955. Our first charity clients were typically involved in the Arts, but we now work with numerous charities, large and small, across a wide range of fields within the sector.

We provide a comprehensive offering and pride ourselves on making sure we get to know our clients and their issues as well as possible to give a more effective, tailor-made service.

The firm's emphasis on media, entertainment and communications means that we have a market leading understanding of many emerging issues for charities, and our commercial approach puts us in the perfect position to advise on commercial arrangements with trading subsidiaries, on commercial participator and professional fundraiser agreements and on fundraising contracts.

Areas of expertise include:

• Formation and constitutional advice: including charity formation, constitutional reviews and governance advice, trustee duties and liabilities, negotiations with the Charity Commission and charity mergers
• Trading and commercial advice: including commercial agreements, fundraising agreements, information and communications technology work, public sector service delivery contracts and tax and VAT advice
• Other areas of expertise: including intellectual property rights' protection and enforcement, litigation, Charity Commission investigations, employment, property, legal aspects of media relations, concerts and events, and broader aspects of Arts-related charity work.

For further information please contact Robert Porter.