Alison McKenna, head of the charities team at law firm Wilsons, has been appointed as president of the new Charity Tribunal.

The appointment, made by the Lord Chancellor and announced by the Ministry of Justice, will take effect from June 2008.

McKenna (pictured) will be supported by a team of seven lay and five legally qualified panel members who have yet to be appointed.

The official start date for the tribunal is February 27, and McKenna confirmed that while the full-time appointment is effective in June, she would be available to assess decisions before then if necessary, as legislation in the Charities Act to set up the tribunal allows for the President to hear cases alone.

The tribunal is not retrospective so cases lodged prior to February 27 cannot be considered.

McKenna joined Wilsons in 2002, before which she spent five years as legal adviser to the Charity Commission. She is a member of the Charity Law Association, the Charities Property Association, and is secretary to the Land Trusts Association. She also sits part-time as president of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.

Dual-qualified as a barrister and solicitor, the Chambers guide to the legal profession describes her as “popular with clients and peers alike. She is superb at communicating complicated issues and is renowned for her reputation and expertise.”

The Charity Tribunal has been created to provide a new, independent route of appeal for charities against Charity Commission rulings. Charities wishing to appeal will still be encouraged to do so first through the Commission’s decision review process, but can then take the case to the Charity Tribunal if still not satisfied with the outcome. Until now, the only further route of appeal was to take the case to the High Court, which could be a prohibitively expensive and complicated process.

Ian Allsop
20 February 2008