Laura Soley > Bates Wells > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Bates Wells Offices

Bates Wells
10 QUEEN STREET PLACE
LONDON
EC4R 1BE
England
Visit website 020 7551 7777 020 7551 7800

Laura Soley

Laura Soley photo
020 7551 7768 [email protected]

Work Department

Charity and social enterprise.

Position

Partner in the charity and social enterprise team and head of the firm’s expert charitable trusts special interest group and joint head of the firm’s Legacies cross-departmental team. Advises charities on charity law, governance and structuring issues, with particular specialism in advising on technical charity law issues and complex structures including charitable trusts, endowments, Royal Charter bodies, statutory charities and property holding structures. Laura was closely involved in the Law Commission’s consultation and subsequent stages which led to the Charities Act 2022 both as a member of the Charity Law Association working party and for Bates Wells, including making a submission to and appearing before the House of Lords committee considering the draft Bill. Recent work includes assisting a Royal Charter body with significant changes to its charter and byelaws, working on a governance review and restructuring of a charity network, assisting a University with several major gifts and endowments and supporting a local community group with challenging a scheme made by the Charity Commission relating to charity land in the Tribunal.

Career

  • Trained Allen & Overy, qualified March 1999
  • Allen & Overy’s private client team, 1999 to 2001
  • Solicitor, RadcliffesLeBrasseur, 2002
  • Joined Bates Wells, 2002 to 2004
  • Worked at the National Pro Bono Resource Centre in Sydney, Australia, 2004
  • Re-joined Bates Wells in 2005
  • Partner, Charity and Social Enterprise team, 2012
  • Contributor to new edition of “The Charities Acts Handbook: A Practical Guide” (Jordans)

Memberships

  • Charity Law Association
  • External member of the Art Fund’s risk and reputation group.
  • Former trustee of LawWorks

Education

  • Nonsuch High School for Girls
  • Exeter University, LLB Hons (1st) 1995
  • Guildford College of Law (Distinction), 1996

Leisure

Visiting art galleries, yoga, hiking and cycling

Lawyer Rankings

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

(Leading partners)

Laura Soley – 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.

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Top Tier Firm Rankings

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