Does anyone know where I can recruit a good solicitor? Do you all use charity solicitor's or just business solicitors that you utilise on an as and when basis for general points of law??
I think you are likely to get a slightly different answer from everyone who replies as there isn't a "industry standard" for doing this kind of thing. It might be helpful if you could provide whereabouts you are in the country - that way you might get a personal recommendation, which always count for a lot.
It may depend on what you want the solicitor for. For most charitable organisations I suspect they come across "normal" legal issues of a kind which would arise in non charitable organisations - eg conveyancing, employment, contracts etc etc. Issues which involve charity law as a main ingredient - eg registration, compliance,fundraising, restructuring, mergers etc - come up much less often. Depending on the size of your organisation and your budget for lawyers you might want to look at a firm offering a range of general expertise but with some charity expertise on tap just to ensure that any peculisrly charitable law points are factored in to the advice.
But who - there's the rub. Recommendations from other local charities of comparable size might help - but you might need to see one or two firms to check the chemistry fits (and the fees are OK) before employing anyone.
Michael
Agreeing with Michael here, and again, it really depends what you what them to do. As a Chartered Surveyor I am usually asked to help on property matters, and one of my first questions is whether the Charity's Solicitor is a good general local Solicitor, or whether they are experts in the area of law we need them to advise on?
You might be interested (no names of course) in a case I had last year where my Charity client sent me to their Solicitor. After a 5 minute conversation with the Solicitor, I had establised that although he dealt with conveyancing, he was not a property specialist, and not in my view the person to instruct to deal with serving notices under a lease. I discussed this with the Charity, with my recommendation for another firm with a commercial property department. The Charity then asked me about fees and were rather surprised to learn that they were presently paying £180 an hour, and the specialist Solicitor I suggested were £125 an hour!
As with so many things, see if you can get a recommendation, and shop around.
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Hi Rebecca
I think you are likely to get a slightly different answer from everyone who replies as there isn't a "industry standard" for doing this kind of thing. It might be helpful if you could provide whereabouts you are in the country - that way you might get a personal recommendation, which always count for a lot.
Sue
Hello (rather belatedly!)
It may depend on what you want the solicitor for. For most charitable organisations I suspect they come across "normal" legal issues of a kind which would arise in non charitable organisations - eg conveyancing, employment, contracts etc etc. Issues which involve charity law as a main ingredient - eg registration, compliance,fundraising, restructuring, mergers etc - come up much less often. Depending on the size of your organisation and your budget for lawyers you might want to look at a firm offering a range of general expertise but with some charity expertise on tap just to ensure that any peculisrly charitable law points are factored in to the advice.
But who - there's the rub. Recommendations from other local charities of comparable size might help - but you might need to see one or two firms to check the chemistry fits (and the fees are OK) before employing anyone.
Michael
Hello Rebecca, also belatedly!
Agreeing with Michael here, and again, it really depends what you what them to do. As a Chartered Surveyor I am usually asked to help on property matters, and one of my first questions is whether the Charity's Solicitor is a good general local Solicitor, or whether they are experts in the area of law we need them to advise on?
You might be interested (no names of course) in a case I had last year where my Charity client sent me to their Solicitor. After a 5 minute conversation with the Solicitor, I had establised that although he dealt with conveyancing, he was not a property specialist, and not in my view the person to instruct to deal with serving notices under a lease. I discussed this with the Charity, with my recommendation for another firm with a commercial property department. The Charity then asked me about fees and were rather surprised to learn that they were presently paying £180 an hour, and the specialist Solicitor I suggested were £125 an hour!
As with so many things, see if you can get a recommendation, and shop around.