Ruo Wu
Ruo Wu is a Legal Director at Shakespeare Martineau specialising in charity and social enterprise law. With more than 20 years’ sector experience across in-house and private practice roles, she advises charities, philanthropists and not-for-profit organisations on governance, regulation, restructurings, mergers, incorporations, disputes and engagement with the Charity Commission. Her clients include charitable incorporated organisations, charitable companies, exempt and excepted charities, community interest companies, B Corporations and chartered bodies. Ruo has particular expertise in complex governance reviews, conflicts of interest, constitutional reform, charity mergers and regulatory interventions.
At Shakespeare Martineau, her recent work includes advising on governance and document reviews involving connected-party arrangements, leading governance reform workstreams and advising a museum charity on a compliant framework for heritage asset disposals.
A fluent Mandarin speaker, Ruo also advises overseas high-net-worth individuals establishing UK charities and social enterprises. She was elected to the Executive Committee of the Charity Law Association in 2023 and contributes to sector policy and equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Ruo is a prolific thought leader. She has recorded more than 40 podcasts, delivered over 10 webinars and written extensively on charity law, including ex-gratia payments and the intersection of charities and artificial intelligence. Earlier career highlights include registering the UK’s first mobile phone museum charity, restructuring a national social enterprise into a CIC and helping a start-up social enterprise raise £6 million through the Future Fund.