Alison Paines

Consultant | London Cambridge


Client services contact Claire Stent

 

Alison is a consultant in the charities team.

She has over 25 years of experience in advising charities and other non-profit bodies, and those who contract with or donate to them.

Her clients include an eclectic mix of service providers, grant-makers, educational bodies, aid agencies and research institutes, as well as individual and corporate philanthropists.

She advises on all aspects of charities' activities but specialises in strategic and governance advice. She is particularly well known for her expertise on medical charities (especially those linked with the National Health Service), educational charities, charities associated with government and international charity issues.

Alison is well used to negotiating for clients with the Charity Commission and other regulators.

She is the past Chairman of the Charity Law Association and the current Chair of Governors at a leading school.
Headshot of Alison Paines

Me in a minute

I count myself very lucky to do the job I do

Almost every day brings something new and interesting - charities operate in so many different areas and have so many different projects - and the clients I work with include some truly inspiring people.

When I started as a lawyer I did property, tax and trust law; this knowledge has proved to be very useful, but in the 1990s I realised that charities needed proper legal advice which took account not only of whatever contractual, commercial or fiscal law affected them, but also of their special status as charities and their own governance arrangements. And so the charities team at Withers was born.