About Rebecca
I enjoy helping charities and other purpose-driven organisations to solve problems and achieve their goals. I provide my clients with clear and practical advice that empowers them to navigate legal and regulatory requirements with confidence.
Rebecca specialises in advising charities, not-for-profits and social enterprises on all aspects of charity law. Her work includes establishing new charities, governance and constitutional matters, commercial and fundraising arrangements, investment, mergers and restructuring, campaigning and political activity, trustees’ powers and duties, Charity Commission engagement, and charity proceedings.
Clients choose Rebecca for her technical excellence and wide-ranging perspective on the legal and regulatory issues affecting the charity and not-for-profit sector. Before joining Russell-Cooke, she was a senior lawyer at the Charity Commission, giving her an in-depth understanding of the Commission’s regulatory approach.
Rebecca has spent many years at the forefront of charity law development. She led the Charity Commission’s work on the law reform project which led to the Charities Act 2022, and was seconded to the Law Commission to advise on the reforms relating to Royal Charter charities.
Rebecca also spent more than six years as a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court. She is adept at building trust with senior stakeholders, having worked as the Judicial Assistant (law clerk) to Lord Reed of Allermuir, the Court’s President. At the Court, she assisted with some of the UK’s most significant charity law cases.
Rebecca is not only a first-rate lawyer, but she also sees the bigger picture and advises strategically.
Experience
Acting for the Independent Schools Council in R (Independent Schools Council) v Charity Commission for England and Wales [2012] Ch 214, a case about public benefit and fee-charging.
Advising a Royal Charter charity on the wholesale revision of its constitution, including adoption of a new Supplemental Charter and Ordinances.
Advising a charitable think tank on its engagement with the Charity Commission regarding alleged non-charitable campaigning and political activity and on the subsequent spin-out of activities into a non-charitable company.
Advising a corporate donor on the creation of a £1.5m scholarship programme at three of the UK’s leading universities, including on compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
Advising a large charity on compliance and governance issues relating to its portfolio of over 700 local property trusts, which included successfully obtaining Charity Commission schemes to amend the trusts’ objects.
Rebecca is a wonderful person to work with: alongside being dedicated, quick, clear and reliable in her approach, what she produces is of top quality.
Education
BA (Hons) Jurisprudence (Law) at the University of Oxford.
LLM at the University of Toronto.
Qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales, September 2011.
Memberships
Member of the Charity Law Association.
Member of the Association for Research on Non-Profits and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).
Trustee of The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Arts Trust.
Publications
Co-editor of Landmark Cases in Charity Law (Hart Publishing, 2026).
Contributed to Cambridge Law Journal and Trusts & Trustees.