Ann Phillips

Ann advises charities, social enterprises and philanthropists on all charity law matters including:

• Setting up charities and social enterprises, finding the right structures for what is planned
• Governance reviews and updating charity constitutions and group structures so that they remain fit for purpose
• Dealings with the Charity Commission from seeking consents to complex regulatory and compliance matters
• Trading and other fundraising, helping charities build sound relationships with philanthropists, corporate supporters, commercial participators and professional fundraisers, 
• Collaborative working arrangements 
• Mergers
• Special projects and ventures 

Ann read Jurisprudence at St Hugh’s College, Oxford University. 

Ann is a trustee of The Poetry Society and of a small grant-making charity.

When not working (and sometimes when she is) Ann spends as much time as possible in the remote north-west Highlands. 

• Advising a household name charity on complex compliance issues arising over a period of years from incorrect advice given by previous advisers, including detailed reporting to the Charity Commission, securing its agreement to the plans to sort out the position and its assistance in doing so
• Advising a national museum on its acquisition of a landmark heritage property from an independent preservation charity
• Advising a charity in relation to a highly acrimonious dispute with a former trustee and founder of the charity 
• Updating governing documents for numerous long-established charities including the first ever revision of one Royal Charter dating from the mid Seventeenth Century 
• Advising on the acquisition of major works of art and collections for addition to the works exhibited in a renowned central London gallery  
• Joint Interim Manager of The Cup Trust, appointed by the Charity Commission to resolve the problems arising out of the charity’s involvement in a high-profile tax avoidance scheme