Clive Cutbill

Clive is a consultant to the charities and philanthropy team.Clive joined Withers as a partner in September 2000, having previously been a partner in another international law firm based in London. As a member of the Charities Team, Clive led Withers’ global philanthropy practice until June 2013, advising both charities and donors in relation to tax-efficient giving and funding and providing advice on charity governance and operational issues. He then became the firm’s International Risk and Compliance Director, and a full-time member of its global senior management team, but continued to provide consultancy on charity and philanthropy matters to the Charities Team and its clients. Following his retirement from that role at the end of June 2018, he re-joined the Charities Team as a consultant.Clive founded, and was the initial chair of, the STEP Philanthropy Advisors Special Interest Group and was also a member of the working party set up by HM Revenue & Customs to review the Substantial Donor Rules which led to their replacement with the Tainted Charity Donations Rules. He has been a trustee or committee member of a variety of different types of charity during his career.Clive was the firm’s nominated officer for money-laundering reporting purposes from 2002 to 2018 and, as chair of the STEP Anti-money Laundering Task Force, was involved in discussions with HM Treasury, MEPs, the European Commission and the Financial Action Task Force of the OECD regarding the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. In the latter role, he was a recipient of an outstanding achievement award at the STEP 2007 Private Client Awards for his role in securing key amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 at draft stage.Even before he moved to a management role, Clive’s combination of knowledge and experience in the fields of trust and charity law, on the one hand, and money laundering and terrorist financing issues, on the other, was described as ‘unique’. He has regularly been ranked in publications such as Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500, Chambers and Partners 2015 describing him as ‘heavily involved in the establishment of US/UK dual-qualified charitable structures, as well as advising on tax-efficient and funding issues for an array of charities and donors. He is recognised for his expertise in the area of money-laundering prevention.’ His spell as International Risk and Compliance Director has since further broadened his experience, so that he now also advises clients with no other connection to the Charities Team on risk and compliance-related issues.