Wilsons bags BLP charity head; will open in London

Wilsons bags BLP charity head; will open in London" />Salisbury-based charity and private client firm Wilsons has hired Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) head of charity and is to open a London office in the next 12 months.

Moira Protani (pictured), a BLP partner and head of the charities team, will join Wilsons on 1 September as its new head of charity.

Protani replaces Alison McKenna, who left Wilsons at the end of May to become the first President of the new Charity Tribunal (The Lawyer, 18 February), the new charities regulator created by the Charities Act 2006.

Wilsons managing partner Jonathan Stephens said: "Our work in the charity world has been a natural adjunct to our private client practice and both continue to thrive in a symbiotic manner.

"We plan to open a permanent London office in the next 12 months, which will focus on providing private client and charity law advice to our established and expanding client base in the City."

Protani's hire reflects a push by Wilsons to develop the constitutional and governance side of the charity team.

She will be joined by Gillian Fletcher, formerly a consultant at BLP, who will join as a consultant advising on constitutional and governance matters. Prior to joining BLP in 2001, Fletcher was a senior legal adviser at the Charity Commission.

Protani said: "This is an exciting move to a practice with considerable opportunities for growth with the roll-out of the Charities Act."

Protani will divide her time between Salisbury and London, where she will inititally be based in a temporary office in New Fetter Lane, EC4.

Wilson's London ambition was first revealed by The Lawyer in the Spring ( 10 March 2008).