The charities practice at Muckle LLP has particular expertise in community sports charities, educational charities and arts, culture and heritage charities, and is adept at all aspects of charity law and regulation, such as mergers and restructurings, governance issues and constitutional reviews, charity regulation and compliance, complex trust law issues and operational support in trading, fundraising and commercial contracting. Samantha Pritchard leads the team and focuses on mergers, collaborations, governance issues, and operational and charity commission compliance matters. Joanne Davison specialises in mergers, restructurings and joint ventures, while Chris Hook has particular expertise in the community sports sector. Alison Jones covers data protection work for charity clients.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Samantha Pritchard demonstrated emotional intelligence as well as high levels of legal knowledge. Samantha showed a firm grasp of the organisation's position and security as we moved into signing the merger agreement.'
‘Joanne Davison has been incredibly supportive in advising our Education Charity on some important constitutional changes.’
‘We have worked with Muckle for a couple of years and very much value their expertise and timely support on a range of different issues, everything from governance to contracts to data protection and management. They are very responsive, professional and clearly have a wealth of expertise across charity-relevant legal areas.’
‘The team at Muckle truly understand the charity sector and this makes them stand out from other firms. Their knowledge of both the nuances in charity law and how it interacts with other governance related matters, enabled our leadership team to make informed decisions about our charity merger. The approach from Muckle was considerably more appropriate in the circumstances, which emphasised their expertise in the charity sector.’
‘Chris Hook and Alison Jones both worked tirelessly on our case. We valued their patience, deep understanding of the sector, flexibility, cultural-nous and expertise.’
‘I have worked with Samantha Pritchard and Alison Jones - I find their approach straightforward, comprehensive and friendly.’
‘Samantha Pritchard is expert, calm, approachable and able to explain complex documents clearly and concisely. When the time came that I needed professional advice in this sector I could think of no-one better.’
Key clients
- The Football Foundation
- parkrun Global
- The Premier League Charitable Fund
- Education Development Fund
- Royal Ballet School Endowment Fund
- Rape Crisis England and Wales
- The Alnwick Garden Trust
- Citizens Advice Gateshead
- Age UK North Tyneside
- Citizens Advice Somerset
- Dame Allan’s Schools
- St Cuthbert’s Care
- The Auckland Project
- Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland
- Transform Trade (Traidcraft Exchange)
- Zurbaran Trust
- Children’s Heart Unit Fund
- Key Fund Investments
- Grey’s College Junior Common Room
- Newcastle Students’ Union
Work highlights
- Advised the Royal Ballet School Endowment Fund on its portfolio of endowments.
- Advised on the merger of four charities to form Citizens Advice Somerset.
- Advised The Alnwick Garden Trust on the development and launch of Lilidorei children’s play village.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Samantha Pritchard