Aarti Thakor
Aarti is a civil law barrister, accredited mediator and Partner. Until April 2024, she was the Director of Legal and Accountancy Services (Chief Legal Officer) at the Charity Commission for England and Wales, where she led the regulator’s most significant and sensitive cases, investigations, legislative changes and policy work. She is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading charity and regulatory lawyers, with over 20 years’ specialist experience across domestic and international charity regulation, covering national, state and sector specific issues.
Aarti now leads the firm’s consultancy, investigations and regulatory review work for major international NGOs, governments, philanthropic foundations, international institutions and charities, advising on complex, high profile regulatory matters for a range of UK and global organisations.
During her tenure at the Charity Commission, Aarti oversaw all of the regulator’s most high profile, complex and sensitive national cases, regulatory strategies and risk assessments. She led major policy and legislative projects, including contributing to the development and implementation of the Charities Acts 2016 and 2022 and providing written and oral evidence to Parliamentary Committees.
She also has advised governments globally on the development and reform of NGO regulatory systems, to ensure greater transparency and accountability for the benefit of civil society. She has extensive experience in FATF Recommendation 8, AML and CTF standards, and is currently an expert legal adviser to the EU funded Global Facility on AML/CTF, supporting governments on legislative, risk and operational reforms to NGO regulation.