Legal | Governance | Training

How we can help

We specialise in Charity Law, Governance and Charity Trustee Training.

Our Partner Sarah Brown, who is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Charity Law and is also a certified specialist in risk management and governance, heads up our charity team dedicated to serving third-sector organisations throughout Scotland. Currently, Sarah is the only accredited specialist in Charity Law outwith Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Whether you are considering setting-up a charity or are already involved in the management of a charity, we can provide both practical and legal advice to help you and your organisation evolve and achieve its charitable objectives. We offer a reduced charging rate for all charities and community organisations we look after and assist.

J & H Mitchell WS have developed an outstanding reputation in Scotland in the provision of legal advice and governance training for third sector organisations. We act for a growing number of Scottish charities and other non-profit-distributing organisations, locally, regionally and internationally, covering a variety of sectors. This means we have significant knowledge and experience of almost all issue that can arise.

Our charity team are great advocates of good governance within the sector and regularly deliver training seminars to help charity trustees understand their roles and responsibilities.

Legal

If you are considering setting-up a charity, we provide honest advice about whether charitable status is appropriate and will help you decide on the most appropriate legal structure to adopt, guiding you through the application process with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

For existing charities we can help specifically with:

  • Reviewing and making changes to your governing document
  • Changing the structure of an existing charity, such as to a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), or Company Limited by Guarantee, and all aspects of charity reorganisation
  • Advice on non-charitable trading and setting up a separate trading company
  • The reorganisation of restricted funds
  • The amalgamation of one of more charities
  • Dissolution of a charity
  • The development of board policies, such in relation to conflicts of interest, grant making and other board matters.

 

Governance

  • For new and existing charities we deal with a whole range of governance matters, from providing guidance on the running and development of a charity to conducting a full governance review.
  • For example, our advice can include help with trustee selection and induction, conducting effective meetings, risk assessment and management, developing and reviewing board policies, introducing grant giving policies and procedures (where relevant) and managing conflicts of interest.

 

 

Training

It is more important than ever that charity trustees and managers ensure that they understand their legal responsibilities and are aware of and follow best practice.

Sarah Brown provides training regularly throughout Scotland to charity trustees, charity managers and other professionals, on a variety of topics, but mainly relating to the governance, day-to-day running of charities and relevant aspects of Charity Law and practice.

Whether it is to help new or existing charity trustees understand their legal duties or to provide specific training in relation to the relationship between the chair and chief executive, we will always work with charities to understand their training needs so as to ensure that our sessions are relevant, specific to charity, and deliver the maximum benefit.

Here is some attendee feedback from Sarah’s charity trustee training sessions:

“The ‘Governance’ issues raised by Sarah were ideal for our new Trustees and did remind me of some tasks which have been overlooked”

“Excellent, Sarah’s presentation was superb, the best I have heard for years on any topic”

“Very informative and useful. Excellent delivery, right level of detail”

“Very helpful. It prompts questions which I will now clarify”

 

 

We look forward to have an opportunity to help you

If you have an enquiry or would like to join our mailing list to receive updates, including our Annual Charity Newsletter and advance notice of upcoming training seminars, please complete our Contact Form by clicking here.

 

 

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