Social Enterprise & Public Sector

Public Sector & Regulatory

At Turner Legal House we are committed to supporting the public & regulatory sector, aligning with our commitment to work in the public interest and for the public benefit. 

We act for a broad span of public & regulatory sector bodies, across the full range of services needed. Be it public & regulatory law, procurement, employment, contract, or property related services, we understand the context in which public & regulatory bodies work. In particular we understand fully that this sector operates within a set of expectations as to public facing conduct, exercise of powers, use of its funds, accountability and transparency.  That understanding of the political and resource driven context for public and regulatory bodies is critical to how we can really add value to the work of those bodies through our services. 

Our clients include the full range of public and regulatory bodies, from core public authorities subject to statutory and public law powers and duties through to the hinterland of private bodies with public functions, for instance Museums and galleries, professional representative organizations, national charities, and Royal Charter bodies.
Our Public & Regulatory Sector team has many years of experience of working in this field and is adept at shoring up, defending or indeed challenging policies and practices of public & regulatory bodies. Our track record in judicial review, statutory appeals, Freedom of Information and other related areas ensures that the advice you get is holistic and totally geared to your aims and objectives.

Our public benefit specialization also adds the perspectives of purpose-aligned public service providers and social impact investors, to assist in multi-sector, multi-stakeholder partnership and collaboration. 

Social Enterprise

We are one of the leading firms advising social enterprises, by which means a venture with a social or environmental mission at its heart. This can encompass many charities, but also includes numerous other entities that we work with, such as community interest companies, community benefit societies, co-operatives and also, increasingly, normal share companies which want to make a difference in a social space.

We are widely regarded as experts advising in the field of social enterprise. We have been instructed, for instance, by The University of Cambridge in relation to their Cambridge Social Ventures program to guide award winners on establishment and related matters. We also carry out the training introducing the social sector to all On Purpose associates and the social finance intermediaries carrying out the Big Society Capital induction program.

Our recent work includes:

• Advising many start-ups on establishment. See our table summarizing the different social enterprise forms here and their advantages and disadvantages: Structure table

• Advising a number of social enterprise groups, set up in a variety of innovative ways. This has included advising on a restructuring within a group which contains CICs, charities and non-charitable guarantee companies and advising on how best to coordinate activities within the group.

• Advising on the use of golden shares, where a charity or other steward holds a veto within a (typically) non-charitable social enterprise to ensure certain key factors, usually that it stays true to its original mission.

• Advising on the available certifications in the social enterprise sector, such as marks and standards.

• Advising various social enterprises on raising finance, including on the application of social investment tax relief – see also our Social Financing work. We have also worked closely with our social finance colleagues on impact reporting and related matters.

• Advising enterprises on all elements of trading and income generation, including tendering, public sector delivery and contract terms.