Oliver Hunt > Bates Wells > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Bates Wells
10 QUEEN STREET PLACE
LONDON
EC4R 1BE
England
Oliver Hunt photo

Work Department

Charity & Social Enterprise

Position

Oliver is a Partner and advises charities, social enterprises and impact driven businesses on a wide range of legal issues, including establishment, governance and financing. Oliver particularly enjoys helping clients to structure new projects and bringing together commercial and non-profit enterprises, whether that be corporation foundations, new trading ventures, impact investment, or community finance projects.

Career

  • Trainee solicitor at Bates Wells, 2012
  • Admitted as a solicitor at Bates Wells, 2014
  • Seconded to Global Innovation Fund, 2017
  • Seconded to Principles for Responsible Investment, 2019
  • Partner at Bates Wells, 2023

Memberships

  • Board member of GAIL (Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers)
  • Secretary of UK Crowdfunding Association
  • Legal Panel, Impact Investing Institute

Education

  • University of Cambridge, MA (First Class), 2009
  • Nottingham Trent University, Graduate LLB (First Class), 2012

Lawyer Rankings

London > Private client > Charities and not-for-profit

(Next Generation Partners)

Oliver Hunt – Bates Wells

The large and specialist team at Bates Wells has a ‘wonderful combination of expertise in the law, deep experience in the sector, and an inherently practical outlook’. Thea Longley heads the practice, which is adept at handling day-to-day issues for its non-profit clients, through to the most complex charity law matters. Philip Kirkpatrick advises many major charities, as well as foundations. Lawrence Simanowitz’s areas of specialisation span charity formations and governance, through to spinouts and campaigning. Stephanie Biden leads the work for faith-based charities, while Laura Soley has a broad charity practice, and covers niche areas such as royal charter bodies and statutory charities. Erica Crump acts for a range of large charities and spearheads the culture and creative cross-departmental offering. Oliver Hunt frequently advises on the structuring and promotion of crowdfunded projects, particularly for renewable energy projects. In April 2024, Jean Tsang and Lucy Rhodes were promoted to the partnership. Suhan Rajkumar is another name to note.

London > Industry focus > Emerging markets

Bates Wells joins the ranking, having hired highly experienced development finance partner Joe Whitfield from Michelmores LLP in 2023. Whitfield’s experience with DFIs, coupled with the firm’s charity and social enterprise client base, positions the firm perfectly to handle impact investment work that involves several practice areas. The team, which includes M&A specialist Nirav Patel and charity law expert Oliver Hunt, works on the establishment of impact investment vehicles investing in frontier markets, notably Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America.