Reema Mathur

Partner

Send an email Connect

Reema is a Partner in the Charity Team. She acts for a huge variety of charities, ranging from start-ups to historic charities, locally focussed charities to those working internationally, and for both grant-making and operational charities.

She specialises in charity law and governance, and how they apply to charities in practice. She is particularly experienced in the technical and complex aspects of charity law, such as dealing with permanent endowment, the de-restricting of restricted funds, the re-writing of complex governing documents and the amendment of charitable objects.

She gives technically robust legal advice which is workable for charities in practice.

Reema is experienced in a wide range of work:

Governance and board reviews, including reviews and re-writes of governing documents for charitable companies, charitable incorporated organisations, charitable trusts and Royal Charter charities
Removing or adapting restrictions on how charitable funds can be used, such as permanent endowment restrictions and restrictions on purposes
Disputes among trustees, and between charities and their stakeholders
Interactions with the Charity Commission, both contentious and operational
Restructures, mergers and collaborative working
Fundraising, including working with professional fundraisers and commercial partners
Group structures and trading issues
Incorporation of unincorporated charities
New charity formation and registration

Reema read History at New Hall College (now Murray Edwards) in the University of Cambridge, followed by studying Law at BBP Law School.

Reema enjoys the specialist legal and governance work involved with Royal Charter charities and leads the firm’s cross-sector group focussed on this type of charity. She works particularly closely with Royal Charter charities operating in the areas of education, medicine and music.

Reema has an interest in advising charities which have a particular emphasis on supporting women and girls, which covers a wide range of charities working in education, health, employment, economic deprivation and many others. She was a trustee of a domestic violence charity for several years.

Reema also has an interest in armed forces charities. She has supported several to simplify their structures and strengthen their governance, helping them to stay focused on their beneficiaries. Her work for armed forces charities includes advising on mergers, restructurings and incorporation; alterations to charitable objects to meet veterans’ changing needs; relationships with corporate supporters; and the occasional dispute.

Reema has recently stepped down after nine years on the Executive Committee of the Charity Law Association, five of which she spent as its Vice Chair. The CLA is one of the key organisations which provide technical input to help develop charity law.

Reema chaired several working parties during her time on the Executive Committee, including those which responded to the Fundraising Regulator’s multi-year consultation on the update of the Code of Fundraising Practice, and the consultation on changes to the Charity Governance Code in 2020. She has participated in many more working parties, including those which considered the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 and the Charities Act 2022. She also twice co-chaired the CLA’s annual conference.

Reema strongly believes in the principles and values behind the push for greater equity, equality, diversity and inclusion in the legal sector and in charities. She was a member of the CLA’s EEDI working party, which seeks to offer access to the CLA’s work as widely as possible. She is also a member of Stone King’s EEDI strategy group, which works to strengthen and support the firm’s commitment to EEDI.

In her spare time, Reema is a governor of a primary school, which gives her insight into clients’ perspectives and how legal advice needs to fit into the operational reality of running a charity. It is also really rewarding.

Reema was recognised as one of the best lawyers in the United Kingdom for charity law in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers, and again in the 2025 edition.