Charlie Cattell, Social Economy Consultancy
Consultancy
LEGAL STRUCTURES & GOVERNANCE
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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:
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- One-off work with a group to identify the most suitable structure for their organisation - and implementing it if required.
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- Analysing options during times of change: expansion, merger, moving from grant dependency to income earning and the like.
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- Acting as on-call expert for advisory and support agencies, providing specialist advice to their clients and members.
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- Advising on more esoteric aspects of legal structures and governance such as share issues, golden votes, franchising, and complex membership models.
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CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEWS
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A useful and popular service is where I conduct a thorough review of an organisation's existing governing document and legal status​. Common issues that arise when undertaking such reviews such are around membership and the appointment of the governing body (board of directors or trustees), as well as changes in legislation that have happened since the document was prepared. The review can also address:
• Areas within the current constitution where things don’t seem to be working properly or as intended
• Matters within the current governance arrangements that the board does not fully understand or with which they are uncomfortable
• Anything that seem to be missing from the constitution.
A detailed written review will discuss all identified issues, how they might be best dealt with in the constitution, any legal restrictions on what the client wants, things that might need to happen outside of the constitution, and so on. The review will also offer comments on other aspects of the current governance arrangements where I think the client could make improvements or consider alternatives.
Revenue opportunity
Could your agency be interested in offering a specialist Legal Structures Consultancy service locally?
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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.
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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.