5 months into my training contract and I still question whether I know what I’m doing. I guess the imposter syndrome knows how to crawl back into your life and make you doubt your abilities.
My first seat has been Charity Law and this is something new to me so I’m really enjoying the challenge and ability to learn some new things!
As charity lawyers, we advice on a variety of things:
- Registering the charity from the start - we get instructions from clients to register a new charity. This helps us bring the trustees vision to reality - what is the purpose of the charity and what public benefit will it provide. The purpose must meet Charity Act 2011 requirements (brings back memories of Equity & Trusts in my undergrad!) I usually attend the initial client meeting to get an idea of what the trustees want to achieve, how they will achieve it, who will be involved then the drafting fun begins!
- Charity property - I started as a paralegal working on the sale, purchase or transfer of charity property. This involves certain specific rules when registering the property. The transfer must be in line with the charity’s purpose and if not, we apply to the Charity Commission for permission of the transfer.
- Business development - I’ve shared a whole post regarding this but essentially its a part of our everyday work. I’ve been involved in presenting to potential clients, sharing vital information about what it means to be a trustee, their duties and obligation’s the different types of charity structures, good governance practice to put in place (and I’m still learning to this day!) I’ve enjoyed the virtual networking opportunity through Zoom breakout sessions so that's a plus!
All in all, it’s been such an interesting time and few months so far. There have been days where I’ve had to learn the hard way - making mistakes and learning from them or having better attention to detail when drafting up documents, being more clear when communicating to clients - but it’s all part of the experience!
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