About the Charity

Still running a high street solicitors’ firm in Bolton which he set up in 1986, he is a past president of the Law Society of England and Wales. He joined the Law Society Council in 2006 and was president in 2017-18, and is a current council member.

He was for many years the chair of the management committee of the CAB in Bolton and a governor of the local college, and previous chair of the Charity from 2014 to 2016.

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"It is with great sadness that we report the death of our chair John Perry who served the Charity faithfully for many years."

Joe Egan, interim chair
13 October 2020

Ian is a director and Head of Trusts & Estates at Talbots Law. He qualified as a solicitor in 2003, specialising in private client work including trust formation and administration, wealth succession and estate planning. He has wide-ranging experience in the administration of high value and complex estates, especially intestacy matters.

He is the former chair of our Wills and Equity Committee, and a former member of the Policy and Regulatory Affairs Committee. He is also an external tutor for the Administration of Trusts paper of the STEP Diploma for England and Wales.

Andrew is a past president of the Law Society of England and Wales. He has been a trustee of various charities and is currently chair of Spurgeons Children's Charity. He has many years of experience in relation to access to justice and human rights issues.

Professor Sara Chandler is a solicitor specialising in housing law and works in the legal advice clinic at London South Bank University.

She is a member of the Law Society Council, chair of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion committee, and member of the Human Rights and International committees.

She is past president of the Federation of European Bar Associations, past president of the Westminster & Holborn Law Society and past president of the South London Law Society.

She is a trustee of the Law Centres Network, Graham Turnbull Trust, Colombian Caravana, and AB Colombia.

Eunice Shang-Simpson LLM, FCIArb, is a PhD Candidate at Canterbury Christchurch University, focusing on Investor-State disputes and International Trade Negotiations.

A member of the Ghana Bar and a Solicitor-Advocate qualified to practice in England & Wales Eunice is also Council Member of the Law Society of England & Wales and a Member of the Society’s International Committee.

A solicitor for 52 years and a retired criminal defence higher court advocate. A former president of the Birmingham Law Society; former member of the Law Society’s Council, chair of its Criminal Law Committee and member of its Human Rights Committee; also a former chair of the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association.

Currently also a volunteer caseworker with the Solicitors’ Benevolent Association and a member of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s Ethics Committee.

A human rights activist and campaigner for prison reform and for access for all to skilled and professional interpreter provision throughout the criminal justice system.

An occasional contributor to the Law Society’s Gazette and a regular media commentator on criminal justice issues.

A founding and senior partner of Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP, Tony has a wide range of international and domestic human rights work and appeared as an advocate in the European Court of Human Rights.

A Fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, and member and former chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society and Council Member as representative on the International Committee.  He currently practices corporate and commercial law.

Dr Klimov is the former chair of the Law Society’s Technology and Law Committee, and a former member of our Policy and Regulatory Affairs Committee. He is a current member of the Conduct Committee.

He has over 20 years’ in-house practice experience as general counsel of EMEA for a leading US-based IT corporation, and later advising major enterprises in digital media, insurance, banking and other sectors. He is a dual-qualified lawyer and admitted to practise law in Russia and England and Wales.

For many years Pavel has provided pro-bono legal assistance to charities and not-for-profit organisations in the UK and abroad, and in 2012 he won an award for the best in-house pro-bono project from the Thompson Reuters Foundation.

Appointed a trustee of the charity in 2002 and Law Society Council Member from 1995 to 2006. Admitted in 1973, he became a partner in 1974 and senior partner from 1987 to 2006 at a high street practice in Gwent with six branch offices and extensive legal aid involvement.

He has been a children panel member from 1986, and qualified for advocacy rights in the higher courts for civil proceedings in 2002. He practised mainly in civil litigation and public law children cases with some probate and trusts. He has also served as honorary secretary to Monmouthshire Law Society from 1985 to 1995 and became its president in 2000.

He also sat as the chair of the Practice Management Committee from 1996 to 1998, and was vice chair of the Audit Committee from 1999 to 2002, as well as treasurer and main board member from 2002 to 2005. Geoffrey was a director of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund between 2004 and 2006 and a lay member of the disciplinary appeals committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants between 2005 to 2006.

He has continued to act as the chair of the Higher Courts Advocacy Rights Appeals Committee. He sat as a deputy district judge from 1993 and was appointed full-time district judge in 2006. Following his retirement in 2018 he continues to sit as a civil and family deputy district judge.

Having qualified in 2007, Ravinder has practised in most areas of law. He specialises in litigation, chancery matters and international enforcement orders. He has previously acted as a trustee of a charity and actively supports the charitable sector. He is a member of The Law Society’s Council.

A partner in Bindmans LLP specialising in immigration law, about which she has lectured and trained extensively. She has written numerous articles on immigration issues and co-wrote Putting Children First – a guide for immigration practitioners (LAG 2002). She is a founder member of the Refugee Women's Legal Group and of the Law Society's Immigration Law Committee and immediate past chair.

Alison was also a member of the advisory group that produced Working with children and young people subject to immigration control: guidelines for best practice (ILPA 2004), co-wrote Representation at Immigration Appeals: a Best Practice Guide (ILPA 2005) and was a member of the advisory group for the policy paper When is a child not a child? Asylum, age disputes and the process of age assessment (ILPA 2007). She is chair of the Immigrants Aid Trust and the vice-chair of Paddington Arts.

Newly qualified in 2019, she works closely with domestic abuse organisations in Essex, namely Next Chapter, Safer Places and Southend-on-Sea Domestic Abuse Projects, who refer clients that need representation and/or advice in respect to non-molestation orders, occupation orders, divorces and other Family Law matters.

She works with Chelmsford Law Clinic, providing legal advice on Family matters to clients at pre-booked sessions. She attends the Anglia Ruskin University Law Clinic, providing advice to clients and works alongside law students, who take notes of the session.

She is a board member for LawSavers CIC, working on an alternative, reduced-fee initiative, and a trustee for the Community Legal Centre Essex. She is a member of Resolution, YRes and the South Essex Junior Lawyers Division.

Thom is Head of Property and Environmental Law at Monro Wright & Wasbrough, covering a wide area of property and environmental law. He has acted for a number of charities in relation to this and also as company secretary for several of his client companies.

He is a member of our Conveyancing and Land Law Committee. He has written articles for The Gazette on various property matters, and acted as liaison with the Bank of England and government in relation to the housing market. He has also spoken on behalf of the Law Society on radio broadcasts about the environmental impact of the coronavirus lockdown.

A specialist in charity law in private practice in Reading, and a co-author of the third edition of Charities as Beneficiaries, published by the Private Client Section and the Institute of Legacy Management.

From 2014 to 2017, acted as chair of the Law Society’s Wills & Equity Committee, having been a member of the Committee for the previous nine years.

In July 2019, installed as the president of the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Law Society, having been its vice president the previous two years. Acts as a trustee for a number of other charities.

Previously served as a board director of a revolving loan fund, as board member of a centre for the arts, and as volunteer for children’s charity hospital at PGA Tour events.

Previously worked as manager of industrial retention and small business development, corporate accounts manager for British Airways & Lufthansa, secondary teacher at a British International School Belgrade Serbia, and within legal in-house/finance to include governance, risk, compliance and internal audit for Canon Europe Ltd, NEC Europe Ltd, Transport for London and GSK.

John Perry was a member of the Law Society’s Council for eight years, and on the Wills and Equity Committee and Private Client section. He was originally articled to, and was a senior partner of, Palmers, a high street practice in Kingston-upon-Thames.

He qualified in 1978 and also a general practitioner, he was the former secretary and president of the Mid-Surrey Law Society and the Surrey Law Society (twice). He was also chair of governors of Hampton School, a large independent boys' school. He passed away on 12 October 2020.

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"On 23 March, we announced that we were suspending some Law Society Charity activities from operating as usual. This is due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and the government's advice to organisations.

The Charity is very much alive and well and accepting donations, particularly of unclaimed client account balances. But its day-to-day operation has had to take second place to the day-to-day solicitors’ duty of supporting the rule of law and the legal system during these extraordinary times.

The trustees will meet as soon as they can to consider the funding applications we've already received. We appreciate that many plans that may have been the basis for applications will have changed considerably since the onset of the virus.

We are unable to accept fresh funding applications at the moment. We'll announce on the website when we start to accept applications again.

Please bear with us and keep supporting us.

The trustees would like to say thank you again to the many firms and individuals who have supported, and continue to support, the Law Society Charity in its valuable work for a cause we all believe in so passionately."

John Perry
9 June 2020