Shoosmiths LLP

Robert is a Legal Director charity lawyer guiding trustees on charity law, governance and regulatory issues, supporting charities in their work and at all stages of their journey: establishing new charities, incorporating existing organisations, advising on collaboration or merger issues and, where necessary, on dissolution.

He advises on the engagement of charities with the Charity Commission e.g. seeking necessary approvals and dealing with serious incident reporting and on charities' dealings with non-charities e.g trading subsidiaries, corporate partners, sponsors and commissioning bodies.

He works closely with colleagues in Shoosmiths’ charities team – in particular with employment, commercial, corporate and real estate lawyers - to provide clients with integrated and responsive solutions to help them to manage their legal risk.

He also advises business clients and philanthropists on setting up their own foundations and on their dealings with charities, in the context of the increasing prominence of “ESG.”

Recent experience includes:

• advising a national charity on governance and regulatory matters as part of multi-faceted legal support provided by Shoosmiths’ charities team;
• advising a national conservation charity on constitutional and regulatory issues;
• registering a charity to support those in need following the invasion of Ukraine;
• creating corporate foundations for businesses looking to increase their charitable engagement;advising on various charity mergers; andtraining trustees and senior executive teams on charity law and governance issues.

Robert is a member of the Charity Law Association and of The Chartered Institute of Fundraising and chairs the charity committee of Shoosmiths’ Manchester office.