Jolyon Maugham KC’s campaign group Good Law Project has been accused of hypocrisy after restructuring itself as an offshore Jersey trust, despite the organisation having repeatedly criticised others, including Reform UK, over their own offshore financial arrangements.
Left-wing campaign group Good Law Project has been accused of “hypocrisy” after restructuring itself into an offshore trust based in Jersey. Director Jolyon Maugham KC has overseen the change, which sees the non-profit organisation now owned by a “purpose trust” registered on the island. Legal experts have criticised the move as “enormously hypocritical,” according to the Law Society Gazette, arguing it grants the group many of the benefits associated with charitable status without the oversight that comes from regulators such as the Charity Commission. The criticism is particularly pointed given that Good Law Project, which uses judicial reviews to challenge the government and public bodies, has previously scrutinised other organisations’ offshore arrangements, including publishing a 2024 article titled “The offshore bonanza powering Reform’s far-Right rhetoric.”
Why the group turned to Jersey
When Maugham founded Good Law Project in 2017, he set it up as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, giving it the public-interest framework of a charity without formally registering as one. This structure, according to the Law Society Gazette, allowed the crowd-funded group to engage heavily in political litigation and campaigning without falling foul of charity law.
As the organisation approached its tenth anniversary, Maugham sought to permanently lock down its ownership structure. The problem, according to the Law Society Gazette, is that English and Welsh law does not recognise non-charitable “purpose trusts,” meaning trusts that exist to serve a goal rather than named human beneficiaries, as a legal vehicle. Because this option does not exist under English law, Good Law Project turned to Jersey, an offshore crown dependency known for its flexible trust laws, establishing a purpose trust there to hold the organisation’s membership interests.
What Good Law Project has said
Good Law Project publicly confirmed the restructuring in May 2026, announcing that Maugham had been replaced as the organisation’s owner by the Jersey purpose trust. The group has insisted the change is not intended to alter its tax position, stating it remains UK-resident for tax purposes and that its income tax obligations to HMRC are unchanged. The organisation has also confirmed that its existing asset lock remains in place, meaning its assets cannot simply be distributed for private benefit, and that it continues to be unable to pay dividends.
According to the Law Society Gazette, Good Law Project openly acknowledged in its announcement that the structure was chosen to replicate the features of a charity “without being bound by the ‘moving political guardrails’ policed by the Charity Commission.” In a witness statement, Maugham said he had considered applying for charitable status when setting up the organisation, but decided against it because he believed the Charity Commission had become “very politicised,” and he did not want the group’s work subject to what he considered potentially unfriendly regulation. He had also considered establishing the organisation as a Community Interest Company, but concluded its political activities could create difficulties under the regulations governing that structure.
A question of control
Despite the organisation’s stated aim of moving toward independent, collective governance, critics have pointed to what the Law Society Gazette described as a “control paradox” within the new structure. In the immediate aftermath of the restructuring, the trust’s only trustee was a company owned by Maugham himself, meaning he remained the individual formally listed as having significant control over the organisation. Legal experts have suggested this arrangement allows Maugham to project an image of independent governance while retaining tight operational control in practice.
Good Law Project has said the new structure will make it possible to add further trustees in future, moving the organisation closer to a charity-style board, and has confirmed that discussions were already under way with potential candidates.
The organisation’s underlying structure
Good Law Project was originally established in January 2017 as a company limited by guarantee, a legal structure that does not have conventional shareholders and cannot distribute profits as dividends. The Jersey restructuring changes who holds the organisation’s membership interest, rather than converting Good Law Project itself into a Jersey-based operating company. Its registered address and day-to-day operations remain based in the UK.
Maugham’s background
Maugham, who leads the campaign group, previously attracted significant media attention in 2019 after announcing on X, then known as Twitter, that he had killed a fox with a baseball bat on Boxing Day while wearing his wife’s kimono, an episode that drew widespread public criticism at the time.
