Bond Dickinson gave its services pro-bono to the Plymouth Drake Foundation, a local charity committed to developing wealthy, healthy and lively communities in the city of Plymouth.

Solicitor Krista McCarthy acted on behalf of the Plymouth Drake Foundation to help secure a lease on 15 Radford Park Road, Plymstock, which will be used as a charity shop. Bond Dickinson advised on all aspects of the transaction, negotiating the new lease, handling commercial property standard enquiries and dealing with completion and post completion formalities.

The Plymouth Drake Foundation supports local communities by providing grants to Plymouth’s voluntary sector as well as funding charities, community groups and social enterprises. To date, the Plymouth Drake Foundation has given out over £650,000 worth of grants to 230 different community groups in the city.

Krista McCarthy, said: "When the Plymouth Drake Foundation reached out to us for help, we immediately agreed to support them. The work the charity does in and around Plymouth is vital to our community and greatly contributes to the development and prosperity of the city.

"We strongly believe that successful businesses have a responsibility to support their local communities and so we're delighted to have been able to share our business skills and legal expertise to support the Plymouth Drake Foundation."

Arthur Ainslie, Chair of the Plymouth Drake Foundation, added: "We are immensely grateful to Krista and the whole team at Bond Dickinson for their support in securing the lease for our charity shop. The transaction was handled with the highest level of professionalism and the whole process felt seamless. We are delighted with the successful outcome and to be opening our very first charity shop."

Bond Dickinson is the largest law firm in Plymouth where it employs more than 180 staff. The firm’s expertise ranges across a number of sectors including real estate, retail, insurance, financial institution, energy, manufacturing, transport and private wealth.

The firm announced its plan to become Womble Bond Dickinson recently as it will complete a transatlantic combination with US law firm Womble Carlyle.