Speechly Bircham LLP

Speechly Bircham is a City law firm with 200 lawyers and has one of the most respected charity practices in the UK, providing a strong all-round service.

Our specialist six-strong charities team is led by John Ward who is "highly rated by clients" (Legal 500, 2007). The team advises charities on all aspects of their operations from charity law and constitutional matters to the increasingly complex pensions, employment, corporate and finance issues facing charities and their trustees today. The team is highly recommended by Chambers, 2006 as “always available, quick, innovative, flexible and ground breaking”.

The team has particular expertise in advising charities on their pensions issues and, through its membership of the Charity Finance Directors' Group, has helped to produce 'The Charity Pensions Maze'.

Clients include organisations that operate in almost every area of fundraising and grant-making - from household name charities to family charitable trusts and foundations, schools, housing associations and NHS Trusts.

Service to charities

Our advice to charities covers a wide range of areas:

• pensions
• employment
• property
• incorporation
• trustee duties
• constitutional matters
• trading pitfalls
• fundraising
• financing
• corporate issues
• commercial and procurement contracts
• branches
• tax and VAT
• conflicts of interest
• internal controls
• legacy income
• volunteers

Contact

John Ward on +44 (0)20 7427 6473 or john.ward@speechlys.com