Joanne Davison

As well as being an experienced charity lawyer, Joanne acts as a trustee for two local charities, giving her invaluable practical and strategic insight into how such organisations operate.

Joanne has a strong understanding of the issues that charities face and provides support on due diligence, negotiating transfer documentation, and advising as to process and dealing with complex governance issues. She also provides advice to a range of organisations on corporate restructuring and achieving charitable status.

Joanne regularly provides bespoke training on governance issues, as well as the implications of the Charities Act 2011 and the Companies Act 2006.

Joanne has a wealth of experience in relation to governance and project work in the sector and leads on many of the academy conversion and transfer projects we do. Joanne’s proactive approach ensures that multi-party projects are effectively coordinated and delivered on time.  

In addition to her project work, Joanne works closely with both leadership teams and boards to advise on delivering long-term strategic plans and has expertise in advising on restructuring and a range of governance and commercial issues. She provides straightforward advice to ensure that the long-term aims of organisations can be efficiently managed and achieved.

Joanne has worked with a range of schools including special schools, free schools, studio schools, UTCs, faith schools, Church schools and PRUs. She advises on issues ranging from creating multi-academy trusts; pre and post-conversion governance and commercial issues. In addition, Joanne leads the due diligence exercises undertaken by the team in the sector.

Joanne has much experience working with FE institutions and understands the context of the provision of FE as part of the broader education landscape. She advises on a range of governance, regulatory and commercial issues. Joanne has led on a number of merger projects in the sector and regularly advises on collaborative working models and funding issues.