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About Cordelia

Cordelia has been based in the Oxford office since 1998.  She acts for a wide range of ecclesiastical and educational charities on all aspects of land and trust issues.  She acts for nearly all the Church schools trustees of the nearly 300 Church schools in the diocese of Oxford and has excellent relations with the Charity Commission, the Land Registry and many of the local authorities with which she has dealings.

She has undertaken a long-term programme in association with the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education to identify, contact and encourage Church school trustees to reorganise their trusts, if necessary, and get their land registered, so as to enable the trustees to facilitate the governors’ vision for the future development of their school.  She has a particular facility for calming tense situations by clarifying to each party the respective rights and responsibility of themselves and all the other parties involved: such explanation and clarification generally allows the parties to achieve their objectives.

Cordelia also acts for national historic ecclesiastical charities which are seeking to update their trusts and procedures to better assist their beneficiaries in the 21stcentury.  She is particularly adept at grasping and respecting the ethos of different ecclesiastical institutions.

Cordelia has acted for the incumbent and churchwardens of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage, for many years and has a particular interest in The Oxford Movement, Charlotte M Yonge and William Butler.

Cordelia, together with Darren Oliver, is Deputy Registrar of the diocese of Oxford and has a particular expertise in advising PCCs about chancel repair liability.

Recent Experience

  • Locating missing trust deeds and obtaining trust modification orders from the Department for Education and schemes from the Charity Commission, so that Church school trustees could permit their land to be used as an academy, usually part of the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust
  •  Advising a 300 year old national charity on how to rationalise its trust funds
  • Advising an international ecclesiastical charity on rationalising and updating its trust purposes and reorganising its trust funds
  • Obtaining an order from the Charity Commission to permit the trustees of an educational charity to sell property to a PCC, which was technically a connected person, off the open market.

Professional Memberships

Law Society of England and Wales

Career Experience

2008 to present: Senior Associate, Winckworth Sherwood