Withers Worldwide

• Education: Girton College, Cambridge , M.A.
• Admitted: England and Wales, 1981
• Languages spoken: French
• Year joined: 1988
• Year became partner: 1991

Overview

Alison is the Head of the Charities and Philanthropy Group at Withers, with over 25 years of experience in advising charities and other non-profit bodies, and those who contract with or donate to them.

Her clients include an eclectic mix of service providers, grant-makers, educational bodies, aid agencies and research institutes, as well as individual and corporate philanthropists, with the following being a representative sample: British Red Cross Society, Cambridge University, Cancer Research UK, Girls' Day School Trust, The Grocers' Company, Guy's & St Thomas' Charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, Orders of St John Care Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and TATE.

She is particularly well known for her expertise on medical charities (especially those linked with the National Health Service), charities associated with government and international charity issues.

She is well used to negotiating for clients with the Charity Commission and other regulators.

Highlights

• Governance reviews for Cancer Research UK, Girls' Public Day School Trust and Orders of St John Care Trust.
• Advice for NHS charities on the impact of the Government's proposals to establish Academic Health Science Centres with leading universities; and the structuring of investment in private patient services ·
• Establishment of the British Olympic Foundation to assist with the delivery of the British Olympic Association's charitable objectives in relation to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Publications and speaking engagements

• Alison (with Clive Cutbill, also of Withers) has been commissioned by Cambridge University Press to edit a new volume to be entitled ‘The Law and Practice of International Charitable Giving' (publication due 2008); she has also contributed to a book by the Bertlesmann Foundation on comparative legal structures for charities and other non-profits across the European Union.
• She led the discussion on ‘public benefit' in the context of the ‘promotion of health and the saving of lives' at the CLA's 2007 ‘For the Public Benefit' conference at Westminster. which led to the publication of a series of essays to inform the development of the Charity Commission's statutory guidance under Charities Act 2006.
• She writes (with David Goepel, also of Withers) the ‘Charities' chapter of Tolley's ‘Revenue Law - Principles and Practice'.
• She spoke at the Asia Pacific Family Office Conference in Hong Kong in October 2006 on ‘The challenge of implementing an effective strategy for philanthropy'.
• She ran a session on ‘collaborative working for charities' at the Governance conference in March 2008.
• ‘Charity under Review' - a comparative study of English and Jersey law relating to what constitutes a charity, what is the role of charity in our society and how charities should be regulated (Jersey and Guernsey Law Review February 2007).

Memberships

• Charity Law Association (Chairman 2008 - ; executive committee member 1997 - 2007; deputy chairman 2004 - 2007; member of Standing Committee on Taxation; member of Charities Act 2006 implementation working party; former chair of working party on European Commission's challenge to the UK Revenue's treatment of foreign charities)
• Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Charities Special Interest Group)
• Law Society of England and Wales

On a personal note

Alison is Governor of the Godolphin and Latymer School and former trustee of two grant making foundations.