Private Client Charity Solicitor 4-6 years PQE

The Firm

Payne Hicks Beach is a 45 partner firm of solicitors based in offices at 10 New Square, Lincoln’s Inn.  In total the firm comprises about 200 staff.  The firm provides specialist legal services to private and commercial clients.  We are best known for our family and private client work and are widely regarded as one of the very best of the small number of firms in the UK who provide these specialist services at the highest level.  We also have an excellent reputation in many other areas of law (rated in both Chambers and Legal 500).

Our offices are located in one of the finest squares in London, a building which the firm has occupied since 1770.

More information about the departments and the work of the firm may be found on our website, the address of which is www.phb.co.uk

The Private Client department

The Private Client department has two sections, the legal section and the trust and tax section.  The legal section consists of solicitors and legal executives (specialising in probate), and the trust and tax section comprises qualified and unqualified trust and tax accountants and practitioners.  These two sections work closely together on our clients’ affairs so as to provide a seamless service.

The Role

Our Charities practice is encompassed within our Private Client department, and the practices of all Partners in the team include advice to Charities and their Trustees as well as advice to Private Clients generally on their philanthropic giving and testamentary wishes.  You will be expected to assist Partners in giving this advice, alongside more general estate planning advice and the preparation of testamentary documents.

Your primary focus will be on Charity work, and on helping the firm to develop a standalone Charities practice. This will be built on our strong history of acting for a number of very large Charities, and dealing with reporting accounting and compliance for many more.  This history has been boosted by the advent of Martin Paisner, who joined in 2020 as Partner from BCLP, bringing with him a large and important Charities practice, and acts as Trustee or Protector for many internationally renowned, and very well endowed Charities.  We are looking for someone who will be a good support to Martin, and become a go-to Charity practitioner for the firm.

You will be expected to be able to prepare constitutional documentation for Charitable Trusts, Companies and CIOs, policies, agreements, deeds of gift and covenant, on occasion working closely with members of the firm’s Corporate Department.  This may include advice on a Charity’s commercial engagement and brand exploitation, GDPR and data protection. You will need to be able to deal with applications to register Charities in the UK, advise on regulatory and compliance issues, dealing with Charity land and special endowments, the merger and restructuring of schemes and other applications to the Charity Commission, and assisting with bringing and rebutting complaints. You will further need to be aware of cross-border issues affecting Charities, and be able to liaise as necessary with advisers in other jurisdictions.

This may include advice on inheritance tax and capital gains tax, income tax and Gift Aid issues (including potential mitigation strategies), as well as VAT and SDLT, working with the Department’s trust and tax team.

You should have a strong background in Private Client and Charity work, and a good knowledge of tax, Company and Trust law, and Charity law generally.

The Individual

You should have the following attributes:

• A confident, personable nature
• The ability to be proactive and reactive in addressing clients’ affairs and requirements
• Strong communications skills and an ability to work as part of a team
• A track record of achieving minimum time targets and meeting regular billing requirements
• The desire and ability to keep abreast with changes in legislation and market developments
• A strong interest in the Not-for-profit sector, both in the UK and internationally, and extra-curricular experience of working with and supporting charitable endeavours is desirable