England - East Midlands • Private client
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Charities and not-for-profit

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Shakespeare Martineau LLP

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Counting cultural, educational, and religious charities on its client roster, Shakespeare Martineau LLP is vastly knowledgeable of legacy administration matters. With over two decades of experience in the sector, national practice head Catherine Rustomji is particularly focused on constitutional and governance matters surrounding charities. Andrew Wilkinson and Debra Burton split their time between Leicester and Nottingham; Wilkinson leads the firm’s contentious trusts and probate team and is skilled in legacy disputes. Fiona Miller spends time across the firm’s offices and Ellis Pugh in Nottingham handles regulatory matters.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Catherine Rustomji is a pragmatic specialist charity lawyer who provides excellent advice in an easy-to-understand manner. She is a solution-driven person and does the best for her clients in an effective way. Some charity lawyers get bogged down in the details, while Catherine does not. She is very strong on governance.'
  • 'All the team involved in the work carried out were very friendly, approachable, and attentive. The whole process from start to finish was very clear and the communication was excellent. Every step was explained in simple language that we understood.'
  • 'Catherine Rustomji and Fiona Miller were accessible and offered valuable advice and guidance from start to finish and always responded to communication quickly, keeping us informed all the way through the process.'
  • 'Andrew Wilkinson is simply superb.'
  • 'Good sensible team.'
  • 'Debra Burton - very good operator. Very sensible, commercial, knowledgeable, and gets results. Excellent.'
  • 'Their processes were clear and made the journey as simple and painless as it could have been.'

Key clients

  • Battersea Dogs’ and Cats’ Home
  • Launde Abbey
  • Nottingham Youth Orchestra
  • Southwell & Nottingham Diocesan Board of Finance
  • Coal Industry Society Welfare Organisation (CISWO)
  • NIDAS
  • Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance
  • Yorkshire Adoption Agency
  • Rene House CIC
  • Northern Consortium
  • Boccia England
  • The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Newark on Trent St Mary Magdalene with St Leonard
  • Rene House CIC
  • Take Her Lead

Work highlights

  • Advised the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation on governance, legal structures, duties of trustees, and managing conflicts of interest.
  • Advised the Southwell & Nottingham Diocesan Board of Finance on a range of charity governance and charity constitutional matters.
  • Advising on the formation and registration of a charity operating in Nottingham.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Catherine Rustomji

Other key lawyers

Andrew Wilkinson, Debra Burton, Fiona Miller, Ellis Pugh, Ben Darlow