Blake Lapthorn

graphics version

fixed priced services

 

Please find below a list of the fixed priced services we provide for the Charity sector.

 

trustee induction and refresher training

Charities are coming under increasing pressure from the Charity Commission to show how they are training and inducting new trustees to their role and keeping existing ones updated on legislative changes. Interactive and covering a broad range of areas, our trustee training course is designed to help charities comply with best practice to induct and refresh trustees on their roles and responsibilities in managing their charity. Run in London, Southampton and Oxford, details of our forthcoming courses can be found on the events section of our website. For larger organisations, we may be able to run in-house training.

 

legal risk training

Have you seen the hard hitting advertisements on television for charities? Many 'campaigning' charities have a difficult job in managing the tension between getting powerful messages across that make people want to respond and give financially in response to what they see but at the same time stay within the law (eg the message adheres to advertising standards, avoids libel, copyright infringement, privacy issues and other publication risks). Our legal risk training is a half-day training session that aims to help charities manage this tension.

 

intellectual property toolkit

An organisation's IP can often be its most valuable asset. To help charities mange intellectual property issues, we have developed a fixed-fee IP service. The service covers everything from providing information sheets and briefing documents on a range of issues including trade marks, copyright, domain names to a free IP audit resulting in a bespoke IPR bible for the organisation, through to advising on trade mark registrations, copyright assertion and watch services.

 

benevolent loans: secured lending registration and set-up service

The securing and granting of these loans can be a legal minefield. We can provide a comprehensive review of a charity's current lending procedures, practice and documentation to ensure that loans are properly secured without breaching the numerous laws and regulations governing this area. We also provide an outsourcing service that removes the burden of charities having to deal with payments from beneficiaries and general communication with them.

 

employment law training

Over recent years employment law has become increasingly wide ranging and ever more complex. Often issues arise that need to be dealt with immediately, however being prepared for dealing with frequently occurring issues and problems is made a lot easier with our employment law training courses delivered by expert employment lawyers, so their training is backed up by real experience, real examples and case studies. We work with you to develop training that integrates with your specific organisation. Courses can be presented at your premises or at our offices in Oxford, Southampton and London all of which have fully equipped training facilities.

 

Vigil

Long before we'd ever heard of the credit crisis, our clients were asking us to devise an employment law retailer for annual fixed price. We worked on their wish list and the outcome was our Vigil service that gives:

 

company secretarial services

The Companies Act imposes numerous obligations and failure to comply can result in penalties against the company and its officers, as well as being struck off the Companies House register. This can lead to personal liability for the directors. Charities often need support undertaking essential company secretarial tasks and compliance with mandatory timescales. Our Company Secretarial team provides a comprehensive service, ensuring that your charity complies with obligations under company law, allowing you to focus on running your charities business.

 

BL Resolve

A charity's good name and reputation is vital for maintaining public trust and confidence in its work. Any loss in public trust and confidence arising from a dispute may impact directly on the integrity of a charity's reputation and also on its fundraising. We offer a specialist mediation service in BL Resolve that can provide trained and accredited mediators to mediate disputes for charities. These include mediators with an understanding of the charity sector. BL Resolve is a Civil Mediation Council accredited mediation provider and a member of the National Mediation Helpline. We can also offer the services of trained solicitor advocates to represent charities in mediations.  The use of alternative dispute resolution/mediation is not always appropriate and we offer a full traditional litigation service for those disputes. This includes representation before the new Charity Tribunal.

 

pension trustee training

Pension scheme trustees are faced with ever-greater responsibilities under a rising tide of regulation. As a result trustees need to fully understand their respective roles and responsibilities, including new legal requirements and how to carry them out. Initial and on-going training for trustees will become even more important in the future. The nature and frequency of training involves trustees assessing their current levels of knowledge, devoting time to additional learning and planning to keep up-to-date. We are able to offer:

 

For further information, contact Elizabeth Davis in the Charities group on 023 8085 7011 or email elizabeth.davis@bllaw.co.uk