As well as its traditional strength in the social housing space which elicits a considerable amount of property and employment work, in particular, Hugh James continues to pick up a growing number of charity legacy mandates, which is serviced by the firm’s market-leading private wealth offering. In this context, in addition to will drafting and the administration of estates involving sizeable charitable donations, the team is also noted for its disputes work, with leading contentious probate practitioner Roman Kubiak regularly engaged by both national and local charities on legacy protection. The team also regularly works alongside the firm’s core charities group, which is led from the London office by Peter Spencer. In summer 2023 the firm acquired Cardiff-based boutique Loosemores, which is known for providing ‘clear guidance and insight’ across a range of issues, including for clients seeking charitable status, as well as on governance and constitutional matters. Although her remit is broad, ’proactive and responsive’ Rebecca McCarthy is particularly adept at advising clients in the sports and Christian church sectors; she recently acted for Welsh Sports Association on the structure, set-up and registration of a new charitable incorporated organisation, The Welsh Sports Foundation.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The options they present always take our charitable status into account and the values within which we work. This produces the right outcomes for us which don't put us in conflict with the way that we present ourselves to the world.’
'They listen with empathy, understand the challenges of the sector and try and stay focused on how best to assist.'
‘The team have a very high knowledge and awareness of the issues faced by small charities and are able to bring this to bear on the issues that we have faced. Their insight and advice has been really, really helpful.’
'We are always grateful for the speed of response, clear guidance and insight and we have absolute trust in the advice we are given.'
'They are very professional, responsive and genuinely interested in what we do.'
‘Rebecca McCarthy is incredibly easy and flexible to work with, efficient and considerate in the demands she makes on our small team. She is also pro-active in ensuring we get things done in a timely manner.'
'Rebecca McCarthy was extremely patient and understanding to our circumstances and the difficulties we faced, alternative options were always explored to ensure that we were making an informed decision.'
'Mark Loosemore is very reliable and is prompt in his responses. This enables us to complete important legal tasks in a timely manner.'
Key clients
- Age UK Somerset
- Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
- Run 4 Wales
- Coleg Gwent
- Cardiff University
- Pobl Group
- Cwmni Urdd Gobaith Cymru
- Cardiff YMCA
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- Noah’s Ark Charity
- Grwp Cynefin
Work highlights
- Advised a leading Welsh sports charity on a £500,000 investment into its trading subsidiary by London Marathon. This was a unique deal in the charity sector due to the way in which both organisations are structured.
- Continuing to advise a leading conservatoire on charitable trusts established by a gift in a will to the Charity.
- Advising a college with charitable status on development of City Centre Campus with state of the art facilities for education and training worth £60m. The deal is important as it is one of the main projects to be funded by the Welsh Government Mutual Investment Model as well as involving capital funding from the local authority.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Roman Kubiak, Matthew Evans