THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW

Registered charity 209425 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q4970116

To promote by means of study groups, meetings and conferences the study and development of international law and comparative law (including foreign law).To promote or commission research into international law and comparative law (including foreign law) and to publish or arrange for publication or otherwise disseminate the results of that research.

Objects

TO PROMOTE BY MEANS OF STUDY GROUPS, MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, TRAINING SESSIONS AND PUBLISHED COMMENTARY THE STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW (INCLUDING FOREIGN LAW). TO PROMOTE OR COMMISSION RESEARCH INTO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND COMPARATIVE LAW (INCLUDING FOREIGN LAW) AND TO PUBLISH OR ARRANGE FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS OF THAT RESEARCH

Area of benefit: NATIONAL AND FOREIGN

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Camden, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£2.7m

Latest spending

£3.0m

Registered

1962

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income decreased by 20% to £2,750K, while total expenditure decreased by 29% to £3,040K. The charity reports a surplus on unrestricted funds of £19.8K but a deficit on restricted funds of £306K, resulting in total fund balances decreasing to £1,548K. The trustees consider there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, despite acknowledging the risk associated with a lack of recurrent core funding.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: within a range of 4-6 months of the year’s audited figure for total unrestricted resources expended (reserves figure: £548k)

“The current target for free reserves is within a range of 4-6 months of the year’s audited figure for total unrestricted resources expended, to recognise the risks relating to lack of recurrent core funding and to enable the Institute to cope with any emergencies.” — page 14

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2025

Volunteers: 26
Government income: £79,985 — grants £79,985 (2); 3% of the £2,749,766 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 7 (£60,001–£70,000: 3; £70,001–£80,000: 1; £80,001–£90,000: 2; £110,001–£120,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024

Volunteers: 28
Government income: £72,967 — grants £72,967 (1); 2% of the £3,458,821 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 7 (£60,001–£70,000: 4; £70,001–£80,000: 2; £150,001–£200,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023

Volunteers: 6
Government income: £188,353 — grants £188,353 (4); 3% of the £5,632,135 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 7 (£60,001–£70,000: 3; £70,001–£80,000: 2; £120,001–£130,000: 1; £150,001–£200,000: 1)

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

Sonya Sceats named new director of British Institute of International and Comparative Law scottishlegal.com · 03/02/2026

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 00615025

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Tom Asher — Director of Operations (source)
Carmel Brown — Director of Marketing and Communications (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

Arts and Humanities Research Council — “BIICL Research Funders Arts and Humanities Research Council” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

SHEPPARD, Audley William — director, appointed 11/12/2024not on trustee list
GREGORY, Mark — director, appointed 11/12/2024on trustee list
KAMAU, Ndanga — director, appointed 11/12/2024on trustee list
JONES, Katherine Louise — director, appointed 26/06/2024on trustee list
SALOMON, Eve Coulter — director, appointed 01/07/2023not on trustee list
BAO, Chiann — director, appointed 06/12/2021on trustee list
MACNEIL, Iain Gerard, Professor — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
MOTANI, Habib — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
BERINGER, Guy Gibson — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
JUST, Alexander David — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
MACLEOD, Sorcha, Dr — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
CHARANIA, Shehzad — director, appointed 20/09/2021on trustee list
PERKS, Elizabeth Caroline — director, appointed 07/12/2020on trustee list
ASHER, Thomas Michael — secretary, appointed 31/03/2026

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income

£2.7m

Total spending

£3.0m

Cost of raising funds

£70k

Reserves (reported)

£548k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~2.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (89% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Alexander David Just
Audley William Sheppard KC · trustee of 1 other charity
Chiann Bao
Dr Sorcha MacLeod
Elizabeth Caroline Perks
Eve Coulter Salomon CBE · trustee of 1 other charity
Guy Gibson Beringer
HABIB MOTANI · trustee of 2 other charities
Katherine Louise Jones
Mark Gregory · trustee of 1 other charity
Ndanga Kamau
Professor Iain Gerard MacNeil
Shehzad Charania

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Belgium · Burma · France · Germany · India · Italy · Jordan · Malaysia · Occupied Palestinian Territories · Poland · Qatar · South Africa

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2025	£2.7m	£3.0m
31/12/2024	£3.5m	£4.3m
31/12/2023	£5.6m	£5.5m
31/12/2022	£4.1m	£4.1m
31/12/2021	£4.0m	£4.2m

Common questions

Is THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income decreased by 20% to £2,750K, while total expenditure decreased by 29% to £3,040K. The charity reports a surplus on unrestricted funds of £19.8K but a deficit on restricted funds of £306K, resulting in total fund balances decreasing to £1,548K. The trustees consider there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, despite acknowledging the risk associated with a lack of recurrent core funding. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Sayer Vincent LLP.

Who funds THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW as a grant recipient include THE NUFFIELD FOUNDATION, THE SYBIL SHINE MEMORIAL TRUST, RANDEREE CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE NUFFIELD FOUNDATION	FY2024	£151k	Food banks as hubs in the crisis ecosystem
THE SYBIL SHINE MEMORIAL TRUST	FY2022	£60k
RANDEREE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£15k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
A B Charitable Trust	06/07/2021	£40k	A grant to The Bingham Centre for the Rule of law
A B Charitable Trust	28/04/2020	£20k	A grant to The Bingham Centre for the Rule of law
A B Charitable Trust	24/01/2019	£20k	A grant to The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
FITZGERALD FAMILY FOUNDATION	1	£275k
THE ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION	1	£170k
HAYDEN FAMILY (UK) LTD.	1	£145k
ELRHA	1	£95k
ATKIN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£30k
THE MCBAIN FAMILY FOUNDATION	1	£30k
THE LANKELLYCHASE FOUNDATION	1	£22k
S P LOHIA FOUNDATION	1	£20k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION.

INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION income £128k
THE SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW income £39k
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS income £20.2m
THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RIGHTS income £343k
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE ORGANIZATION (UK) LIMITED income £26.7m
BAICE LTD income £184k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW	£2.7m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION FY2025	£128k	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW FY2025	£39k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FY2025	£20.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RIGHTS FY2025	£343k	—	—	below	—	no doubt
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE ORGANIZATION (UK) LIMITED FY2025	£26.7m	£160,001 - £170,000	—	above	—	noted

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.