Charlie Cattell, Social Economy Consultancy
Consultancy
LEGAL STRUCTURES & GOVERNANCE
I provide a comprehensive range of consultancy services on any subject relating to legal structures and governance issues. A small selection of examples might include:
One-off work with a group to identify the most suitable structure for their organisation - and implementing it if required.
Analysing options during times of change: expansion, merger, moving from grant dependency to income earning and the like.
Acting as on-call expert for advisory and support agencies, providing specialist advice to their clients and members.
Making a contribution to larger consultancy exercises where a specialist input is required on legal structures and associated topics.
Mentoring staff in advice and development agencies as part of their professional development.
Advising on more esoteric aspects of legal structures and governance such as share issues, golden votes, franchising, and complex membership models.
BUSINESS PLANNING & FEASIBILITY STUDIES
My small team is very experienced in researching and writing business plans and feasibility studies, including the preparation of detailed financial projections. There is a range of reasons why such an exercise may be required, including:
To support a funding application.
As part of an organisational review.
Business planning to maximise earned income.
Investigating the possibility of merger or structured collaboration with one or more other organisations.
To cost a proposed development or new venture.
In the case of a proposed merger, we can also assist with the ‘due diligence’ exercise as part of a feasibility study.
COMMISSIONED WRITING
I am frequently commissioned to write about technical subjects in an accessible way, using non-technical language. These include:
Articles in magazines and journals.
Options analyses for people who must make decisions about an organisation's legal status or governance structure.
Manuals, members' handbooks and other explanatory tracts.
Advice notes for members or clients of an advisory or umbrella organisation (e.g. ‘Should we incorporate?’).
Technical chapters in books about governance and management.
Revenue opportunity
Could your agency be interested in offering a specialist Legal Structures Consultancy service locally?
I have an arrangement with a number of agencies where they advertise a comprehensive service to their client groups. Agency personnel deal with initial enquiries, face-to-face meetings and passing on draft documents (under my supervision and instruction), while I handle all the technical work in the background and negotiate with Companies House, the Charity Commission and OSCR, as appropriate. We agree set charges for standard bits of work (incorporating an existing charity, for example) and the agency adds whatever it thinks appropriate to cover its time.
Such a facility requires almost nothing to set up or to run. It adds to the agency's portfolio of resources and provides a genuinely useful local service, while also providing an unrestricted income stream. Agency staff will also learn a lot about legal structures along the way.