Liz Brownsell

Liz is the Head of our Charities Team. Her expertise covers a wide range of matters affecting charities, including setting up and incorporation, mergers, corporate structuring and restructuring, governance (including constitutional and membership issues), commercial arrangements and contracts (including joint ventures and collaborative agreements), trading and charity retail (in particular Gift Aid for charity shops), fundraising, matters involving the Charity Commission (including investigations), releasing permanent endowment and other restricted funds, and general charity law.

Liz has further specific expertise advising on academy conversions, covering every type of conversion, including primary and secondary schools, special needs schools, sponsored conversions, Catholic schools, and Church of England schools. Liz also provides post-conversion support to academy schools on matters such as compliance with DfE and EFA requirements, governance, mergers with other academy trust companies and other commercial issues.

Liz leads the firm’s in-house training offering to our charity clients through Birketts’ Shaping Excellence Programme, and regularly delivers seminars on a variety of topics. Liz also delivers the firm’s rolling programme of Charity Trustee Induction and Refresher Training, which provides charity trustees and senior managers with essential training on the role and responsibilities of charity trustees.