Year: 2022
Our social purpose
Putting social purpose at the heart of everything we do.
Doing the right thing has never been more important for businesses and organisations. For Anthony Collins Solicitors that means partnering with individuals, organisations and policymakers to build a stronger more connected society.
The case studies on these pages give a snapshot of the work we do as a national advisor in sectors for good, from charities to housing, clinical negligence to public services.
Creating social impact is integral to our business and our team.
Serving organisations that make a difference is good for our own business too. While we admire the pro bono work of other law firms, they work pro bono precisely because it’s not their core business. Whereas everything we do is directed at delivering a positive social impact.
In voting us Independent Law Firm of the Year, The Lawyer magazine put it like this:
“Can you be a successful commercial law firm while having a genuine purpose? The answer, of course, is yes…Anthony Collins’ stated purpose, is ‘about improving the lives of those in our community and society.’
Meanwhile, profits are as high as they have ever been. Maybe they wouldn’t get a magic circle partner out of bed, but they do show that you don’t have to live in legal aid penury to do socially valuable work.”
Being recognised as leaders in many sectors for the quality of our work attracts more than clients. Our commitment to social purpose also attracts a high calibre of staff who want to work somewhere their expertise has the most impact and where they are surrounded by people who are similarly motivated.
Notable successes this year include:
- Securing the new Coventry Gigafactory site to support the emerging UK electric vehicle economy.
- Devising the ground-breaking ‘Help to Own’ model with Frontier Development Capital and the West Midlands Combined Authority which allows people to buy their homes for £1 after they have rented them for 25 years.
- Helping businesses develop their own purpose, through the launch of the Ethical Business Project which assists businesses to build their strategy and operations around their own purpose.
- Our social mobility toolkit which helps businesses to attract a wider pool of employees by supporting previously disadvantaged candidates.
- Making our own net carbon zero commitment for 2030 which is ten years earlier than most of the legal services marketplace.
Individuals
We support people at very challenging times in their lives. Working closely with our clients, we get to know them as individuals and what they want to achieve so we can provide the best service to meet their needs.
Building relationships helps us tackle the sensitive issues often involved in their legal challenges. Our teams support clients in a variety of areas: from childcare and family issues to helping people manage their assets, from managing relationships to domestic abuse.
And, for clients who have experienced a catastrophic event, through negligence or injury, we help people to rebuild their lives and return to financial security.
Communities
Over half of our work is for clients with charitable status, many others are local authorities or organisations dedicated to public service. Improving the lives of their respective communities is something we can help them do more effectively through our work.
That might mean working with housing associations to develop sustainable and affordable new homes. Or helping them free up funds for essential services by securing joint-venture and outsourcing opportunities.
By working with our clients to understand the real issues, we identify the best solutions, whether the issues involve complex social issues, governance and structural problems or enabling the better use of assets and investments.
Society
Our work with communities and individuals has an impact on society at large too. Whether we’re working with a social business committed to helping residents improve their health, or advising an organisation on a cooperative structure, we’ve always got one eye on the greater good the work will result in.
As part of our commitment to improving society, we regularly support groups of clients on issues of aligned interest that are in the public eye. In the last year, we have focussed on advising on pandemic-related government guidance, its practical application and how it should be improved.
Also, as part of this commitment to society, we offer everyone at ACS the opportunity to take up to three paid days per year to volunteer for a cause of their choice.
Social Impact Report 2022
Preserving land to protect people and planet
To fight climate change and reach net-zero, we must embrace new legislation.
Climate change and biodiversity are issues that affect everyone. But, by working together, we can make changes before it’s too late. At Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS), we’re doing everything we can to make a difference, helping our clients embrace ways to preserve ecology and protect humanity.
On its way through Parliament, the Environment Bill’s purpose was to improve air and water quality, reduce waste and increase biodiversity and resource efficiency. Now passed, the Environment Act has introduced a new concept to UK legal landscape: conservation covenants. Conservation covenants can be used to preserve wildlife, habitat or heritage assets to create positive and lasting change – even if the land is sold on. The covenants preserve local land for future generations and allow nature to flourish.
Unchartered territory
As Kent Wildlife Trust’s lawyers, we provide legal support on a range of projects that benefit the local community, including the opening of their new country park and visitor centre. When they asked for support preparing for the conservation covenants legislation, ACS were unfazed by entering unchartered legal territory.
The reason conservation covenants have such potential to protect land permanently is that, unlike the public law used for greenbelt land, they use private law remedies that cannot be overridden. This means whatever land or asset they preserve, can be preserved in perpetuity. Although the legislation has already been in force for many years in Scotland and in countries like New Zealand, the concept is wholly new to the rest of the UK.
Putting a conservation covenant in place can be used by those who care for the future of the environment to achieve outcomes such as protecting ancient woodlands, promoting biodiversity, conserving plant species, cleaning water or storing carbon. For example, the covenant might state that the butterfly and bee population in the area needs to increase by 1% per annum or could prohibit activities like burning peat for grouse shooting – which releases carbon into the atmosphere.
Ultimately, by working directly with third party landowners, conservation covenants can be used to create biodiverse and resilient areas at the scale needed to tackle the climate crisis.
Preparing for change
Recognising how vital this new law will be, the Trust decided they wanted to reach out to farmers in their area and ask whether they would adopt conservation covenants. Helping the Trust on this journey has also meant the ACS team developed expertise in this area before the law was even in place.
The ACS team reached out to different jurisdictions to discuss their approach and carried out research to decide what agreement would be most suitable. We also drafted a conservation covenant for Kent Wildlife Trust so they were prepared for when the legislation passed.
“When it’s a totally new area of law, other firms might be wary about it. But we’re not afraid to be ahead of the pack. This hadn’t even come into law and we’d already drafted an agreement to help prepare one of our clients.”
Natalie Barbosa, senior associate, Anthony Collins Solicitors
Leading by example with our climate pledge
To tackle the climate crisis, we’re committed to becoming a net carbon zero business by 2030.
From raging fires to life-threatening floods, it’s impossible to ignore the effect climate change is having on our planet. We can’t push it aside and say we’ll solve it in the future. Together, we need to act now by thinking and behaving as sustainably as possible.
At Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS), many of our clients own huge parts of the UK infrastructure, including local authorities, housing associations and schools. We’re here to advise them on everything they can do to help avert the climate emergency.
Addressing today’s challenges
Even if an organisation or local authority recognises today’s challenges, that doesn’t mean the policies they write necessarily filter down through the organisation and become part of daily life. That’s where we come in. We bring our experience of emerging good practice to deliver on the sustainability agenda.
“We can help you take that declaration or policy and actually make it meaningful on a day-to-day basis. Our whole raft of expertise means we can help you embed your approaches to sustainability.”
Natalia Barbosa, senior associate, Anthony Collins Solicitors
Ready for any challenge
When it comes to making the planet greener, our team is ready to help across a range of areas. Whether that’s helping a wildlife trust prepare for new legislation that will boost biodiversity or supporting the development of a community-owned solar farm.
We also work closely with local authorities who share our vision of achieving net-zero. Our experts are helping councils to decarbonise public buildings and make the most of vital government funding, as well as advising them as they generate green energy and procure district heat networks.
Read our green economy case studies
Our climate pledge
Our team is aware that, if we don’t take radical action, we are not going to survive as a species. As a business, we want to lead by example. We’re committing to our own climate pledge and placing ourselves in the vanguard of organisations delivering on the climate sustainability agenda.
It’s not enough to advise our clients on delivering their own green agenda and sustainability pledges. We want to lead by example. That’s why we’ve made a pledge to be a carbon net-zero business by 2030 – a full 20 years ahead of the mandated 2050 deadline for the UK.
“Our first steps have been to enable paper-lite working and dramatically reduce printing and paper usage. In the coming year, we will be creating a plan that looks across the business to quantify and systematically reduce our carbon footprint.”
Andrew Gilyead, chief operating officer, Anthony Collins Solicitors
In the future, we will monitor progress towards net carbon zero each year, and publish the results in our annual social impact report.
Acting as interim managers for charities
We’re appointed by the Charity Commission to manage charities that are at crisis point.
The Charity Commission is responsible for regulating charities in England and Wales. When supporting their charity clients, the Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) charities team often liaise with the Commission on their behalf on regulatory and compliance issues. However, ACS are also one of a small number of approved organisations from which the Commission appoints interim managers.
Managing property and affairs
Charities aren’t always run successfully and there are cases where the Charity Commission exerts its regulatory power to appoint an interim manager, usually lawyers or accountants. This action is taken as a last resort to protect a charity’s beneficiaries, finances, assets and reputation.
Over the last couple of years, ACS staff have been appointed into interim manager roles five times by the Commission. The role involves managing the property and affairs of a charity – working with trustees or taking complete control. How long we’re in the role varies significantly. It could be a few months, but it might be for years. This was the case with the Alternative Animal Sanctuary.
An animal rescue at risk
In January 2019, the ACS team (Edwina Turner, Phil Watts and Sarah Tomlinson) were appointed as interim managers for the Alternative Animal Sanctuary. The Commission had already been working with this animal rescue charity for two years and had significant concerns about how the trustees managed conflicts of interests, the finances of the charity and its reputation.
Although our appointment didn’t stretch to looking after the animals, the ACS team were responsible for everything else that running the charity involved, from managing the bank accounts to buying animal food.
The final straw
We worked with the trustees to improve their practices and management. However, after a year, nothing was changing. The final straw came when the RSPCA raided the property and seized a number of animals.
Unfortunately, we ended up doing what interim managers have to sometimes do – recommending to the Commission that the charity should close its doors. After this was agreed, our responsibilities shifted from operating the charity to shutting it down in an orderly manner.
We began the difficult process of distributing the charity’s residual funds which totalled over £400,000. After extensive research, the list of suitable charities was whittled down to ten organisations around the country with similar objectives. All of these charities were able to put the funds they received to very good use.
The interim manager role boosts our understanding of the way the regulator operates which helps us to better serve our charity clients.
“Charities are set up for the benefit of the public. The work we do as interim manager deals with charities where that public benefit focus has been lost – perhaps through mismanagement or fraud. We try and get those charities back on track, so their purposes are fulfilled. Where this isn’t possible, our job is to protect the charitable assets so they can be used for public benefit elsewhere.”
Phil Watts, senior associate, Anthony Collins Solicitors
Registering nearly 140 new charities in 2021
The foundation of good governance begins with setting up charities successfully.
At Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS), we’re proud to work alongside charities to make sure they are run properly and achieve their charitable purposes. Our support plays a critical role in building public confidence in charities and reassuring donors their money is being used to make a difference.
We support charities in a number of ways, from assisting with mergers and restructures to dealing with serious incidents and limiting damage to their reputation.
Edwina Turner, ACS legal director, explains, “The structure of a charity is similar to a human skeleton. When it’s working properly, we don’t notice it. However, when it doesn’t function as it should, it hinders what we do. Our aim as a team is to create a structure that facilitates and empowers the work a charity does. If trustees and staff have to work around their charity’s structure then that is a sure sign it isn’t the right structure for that charity.”
Set up to succeed
The foundation of good governance for charities starts with being set up correctly. ACS have been recognised by the Charity Commission as one of the UK firms with the highest number of registrations. This was 139 new charities in 2021.
We register charities with a wide range of charitable purposes – health and social care, the arts, faith, education etc. However, a high number of these registrations come through our partnership with Stewardship, itself a charity. We work with them to offer a registration package, which helps new charities to get started and more traditional charities to modernise.
Limiting personal liability
In the charity world, growth can tend to be organic – often it starts with the vision of one or two people and a simple structure but 10-20 years later the charity may be a national/international organisation with many employees and numerous contracts with third parties. When this happens we can see the structure struggle to keep up. The ACS team helps charities by changing their structure, often moving from an unincorporated charity (for example, a trust) to a re-registering as a corporate charity that can support and empower the work of the charity and limit the personal liability of the trustees.
An example of this is our work with the Baptist Union. We provide support enabling unincorporated Baptist churches to re-register as charitable incorporated organisations. This enables bank accounts, employment contracts and contracts with third parties to be in the charity’s name instead of the trustees’ personal names.
“Our work with charities is extremely rewarding. By drafting their governing documents and registering them with the Charity Commission, we help them start their work from a solid foundation and then continue to be well-governed and regulated organisations. With the right structure in place, they can make an impact on the lives of individuals and successfully tackle issues that are facing our communities.”
Katie Crosbie, executive, Anthony Collins Solicitors
How our work in property makes a positive impact
When Fegans merged with Spurgeons, we made sure the transfer of assets went smoothly.
Spurgeons supports children and their families up and down the country. Their work covers a whole host of areas, including helping young carers, working with families affected by domestic abuse and preventing child criminal exploitation.
In July 2021, Fegans, a school counselling and parenting support charity in the South East of England merged with Spurgeons. With Fegans struggling and Spurgeons making a growing impact nationally, the merger would help achieve their shared vision “to be Christ-honouring and to ensure the work they carry out better serves that purpose”.
As part of the merger, Fegans gifted Spurgeons a range of properties, including their headquarters. And this was where they needed the expertise of the Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS) team.
Extensive background work
Taking on Fegans’ premises was critical for Spurgeons to continue delivering their services. However, although there would be no money transferred, Spurgeons needed our help to make sure taking on these buildings would be in their best interests and they wouldn’t become a liability.
At first glance, receiving properties as a gift might seem straightforward, but there was still a lot of expert background work that needed to be completed by the ACS team. Titles needed to be checked, searches undertaken and enquiries raised. The ACS team carried out intensive work to ensure that Spurgeons could make a fully informed decision on each of the properties prior to completion. They also undertook full due diligence on each of the properties and walked alongside the client when reviewing the information available from Fegans to ensure that each of the properties wouldn’t cause any problems for Spurgeons or incur additional costs in the future. All too often, charities accept gifts without realising the financial impact that they may have in the future due to the repair and maintenance obligations that are often overlooked.
A number of the properties were leasehold, therefore the terms of the leases need to be reviewed to ensure they could continue to be used for the charity’s work and there would be no breach of the lease terms with the respective landlords. Also, consent needed to be obtained from the landlords prior to completion which included entering into further deeds and documents to ensure that the charity’s work could continue from completion.
Looking to the future
As ever, there was a certain amount of chasing and liaising with third parties to do. However, our approach prioritised relationships, making sure the merger got off to a positive start for everyone involved.
By helping to facilitate this merger, we’ve helped two organisations join forces so they can keep up their valuable work improving lives and the mental health of many children and their families.
Moving forward, Spurgeons is committed to continuing Fegans’ work and every member of staff has had their employment transferred. They also plan to make minimal changes and avoid disruptions for colleagues and the children and families they serve together.
“We worked hand-in-hand with the legal team representing Fegans to ensure there was a smooth transfer of assets while protecting Spurgeons against any potential liabilities.”
Laura Mynott, associate, Anthony Collins, Solicitors
It’s all about relational not transactional business
Supporting organisations with a common purpose makes our work incredibly rewarding.
At Anthony Collins Solicitors (ACS), we work with many different organisations to further our social purpose: improving the lives of individuals, communities, and society.
The Cauda Equina Champions Charity (CECC) is one of the organisations we are proud to partner with. It supports people living with catastrophic damage to their spinal cord and raises awareness of the condition known as cauda equina syndrome.
Learn more about our relationship and how we work together by watching our interview with Claire Thornber, founder of CECC and Rankeshwar Batta, head of personal injury and clinical negligence at ACS.
Making positive change
When work is done together in this way, it is not transactional but relational. The private legal services (PLS) team at ACS, who act for individuals and their families at pivotal times in their lives, plan and strategise with like-minded external partners, as well as supporting their fundraising initiatives and encouraging others to do the same.
Relational business is all about building long term relationships and making a positive change.
“I would encourage all of us to think about how we can become more relational with some of our clients, external partners and referrers. We need to consider whether it is the right thing for them and for us so that we can succeed together in furthering our purpose on a sustainable basis.”
Rankeshwar Batta, head of clinical negligence and personal injury, Anthony Collins Solicitors
Meet our other partners
As well as CECC, our charity partners include the Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT), The Sepsis Trust, Meningitis Now and the Meningitis Research Foundation.
What these charities do connects deeply with many of our staff and the firm as a whole. Through their day-to-day work, the organisations improve the lives of the most vulnerable. And, by working with the support systems around them including families and schools, they improve entire communities. Their leaders look at the bigger picture, shaping healthcare policy and practice which, as a result, improves society too.
“The connection between ACS and our external partners is at a very high emotional and visceral level. When that happens, it is the key to what changes us, it is what moves us, and it drives us to take positive action.”
Rankeshwar Batta, head of clinical negligence and personal injury, Anthony Collins Solicitors
We support our charity partners with their purpose, raising awareness of their initiatives such as political campaigning and providing specialist legal advice to their end-users. The ACS team also take part in fundraising activities to help them make a difference. This has ranged from taking part in half marathons to organising a four-week virtual Indian cook-a-long which raised over £1,400.
Being named as a special ambassador
Last year, Rankeshwar Batta was announced as a special ambassador for CBIT. Not only is this a testament to the relationship built by Rankeshwar and his team, but it also recognises how the wider firm embraces case referrals with vigour, enthusiastically fundraises with activities such as Glow Week and supports initiatives to enhance the lives of individuals with a brain injury.
“Rankey and Anthony Collins Solicitors have helped us with kind support when we are trying to kick start initiatives, looking for relevant speakers at events and fundraising activities. Rankey is a steadying voice in our Birmingham fundraising group. His insight and knowledge is second to none, helping us with planning for the future and our strategy in order to support brain injured families in even more difficult times. He is a voice of kindness, strength and unwavering support. He wholeheartedly deserves recognition for the years he has spent taking the Child Brain Injury Trust into his heart, embedding it into Anthony Collins Solicitors culture and spreading our message wherever he goes. He epitomises our values and we are so proud that we can finally thank him for everything he has done for us and recognise the amazing work he, his team and the firm have done consistently over many years”.
Lisa Turan, CEO, CBIT
Securing a settlement to provide life-long care
After a medical procedure sadly went wrong, Jane’s family turned to us for help.
Our client was catastrophically injured through no fault of her own when a medical procedure sadly went wrong. Her family turned to us for help getting expert legal advice and the support she needed. She must remain anonymous by order of the court and to respect her parents’ wishes, so we refer to her as “Jane” to preserve her identity and confidentiality.
Suffering severe headaches
Jane was a remarkable young girl who excelled in everything from academia to sport, dance to music. She achieved 12 A* grades at GCSE, was studying five A-levels and a place at Oxford or Cambridge was well within her sights. As a fluent Russian speaker, Jane also already knew what she wanted to do – become a forensic accountant specialising in Russian fraud.
However, in January 2013, Jane started to experience severe headaches. After a CT scan, it was confirmed she had an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a tangle of blood vessels in the brain or on the brain surface.
A devastating outcome
After being transferred to the neurosurgical team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, it was decided she should undergo a procedure. Unfortunately, this didn’t go to plan. During the procedure, she experienced bleeding, which resulted in a massive haemorrhage. Our expert investigations concluded the medical professionals involved failed to carry out the surgical procedure correctly.
Jane was given emergency treatment, but she suffered a profoundly severe brain injury, as well as other complications. She was left with no independent mobility, as well as impaired cognition, communication and vision.
Life-changing impact
Jane’s injury impacted her family significantly. Her parents devoted their lives to caring for her around the clock, often going without any sleep for days at a time. Both of Jane’s siblings were promising ballet dancers, attending the highest level of ballet school in the country. However, they were so affected by what happened they felt they were unable to pursue their lifelong career ambitions.
Jane now required 24/7 care for the rest of her life. However, she never went without anything she needed, including any equipment and therapy which was needed for her support and rehabilitation. Anthony Collins Solicitors and anyone else could see the selfless level of care the family provided was second to none. Even the medical professionals involved in Jane’s care deferred to her parents.
Different reports and opinions
At a relatively early stage, the defendant admitted there had been a breach of duty when they did not stop the surgical procedure and discuss matters with neurosurgeons. Following this, we carried out extremely detailed investigations to assess the impact of the admitted breach of duty and Jane’s needs and requirements as a result.
Unfortunately, as these investigations took place, she became unwell and needed a number of operations. We supported Jane and her family throughout this difficult period while the complex litigation evolved.
“After my daughter had her surgery, our lives were completely shattered. We thought that she would be fully recovered and back doing her A-levels in no time but, instead, we were told that she would be permanently brain damaged and need lifelong care. The thought of taking on complex and lengthy litigation filled us with fear, but we were determined to get to the bottom of things.”
Jane’s mother
Providing live evidence
During the investigations, there were different reports relating to her condition. The defendant argued Jane was in a permanent vegetative state with no understanding of the world. Therefore, she didn’t need equipment and therapy such as switches and speech and language therapy. However, the family, teaching staff and support workers saw improvement in her cognition and her ability to communicate.
“We strategically captured videos highlighting that Jane could respond to commands, move her head and interact with her surroundings to provide live evidence to the court and the defendants alike of our position on the issue.”
Rankeshwar Batta, head of clinical negligence and personal injury, Anthony Collins Solicitors
A multi-million-pound settlement
The claim was negotiated to a multi-million-pound settlement which comprised of a seven-figure lump sum alongside six-figure annual payments for the rest of Jane’s life. The settlement will, of course, not change what happened to Jane, but it will allow the family to put in place the care and therapy package which is best for Jane and works for them as a family, as well as give some important and much needed financial security and options for the future.
“The settlement was achieved by our specialist clinical negligence team and they supported Jane and her family over seven years of hard-fought litigation resulting in a strong relationship of mutual understanding, trust and respect.”
Rankeshwar Batta, head of clinical negligence and personal injury, Anthony Collins Solicitors
The baton of relationship has been passed to our specialist Court of Protection team as Jane is deemed unable to manage her own affairs. One of our specialist Deputies will support her for the rest of her life, helping make decisions about her finances and welfare. We’re proud we can maintain our strong relationship and continue to support Jane and her family in this way.
Helping others
Despite being busy meeting Jane’s needs, her family are eager to help others. They’ve admirably set up a charity to raise awareness and money for others in a similar position and fund therapy for those unable to pay privately or secure funding.
“We knew that we had made the right choice when we instructed Anthony Collins Solicitors to help us. They listened, they cared, they fought hard for Jane and the outcome that we have achieved will totally transform our lives forever – while it will not bring our previous lives back, it will give Jane and the rest of the family important options in life and financial security for the future. I cannot thank Rankey and the rest of the team enough. They really did go above and beyond just the legal claim and made sure that we felt we were at the centre of every single decision that was being made. We genuinely felt they wanted to make a positive difference for Jane. We no longer consider them to be our solicitors but our friends.”
Jane’s mother