Alison is a Partner in DTM Legal’s Corporate & Commercial team, heads up the firm’s Charities and Philanthropy team and is the firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP). With over 25 years’ experience advising clients, Alison has built a reputation for being an excellent technical lawyer with a down-to-earth practical approach that has helped her develop great relationships with clients and fellow professionals alike and has been praised in the Legal 500 for being “very approachable, always meets deadlines and gives very reasonable and realistic advice”
Alison graduated with a degree in Law from Cardiff University and completed her Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the College of Law, Chester. She trained with a small firm in Liverpool before moving to Chester in 2000 and is one of the founding partners of DTM Legal.
As a key member of DTM Legal’s Corporate and Commercial team, Alison advises clients throughout the life cycle of their business and believes that the in-depth knowledge of a client’s businesses that comes from working alongside them for many years significantly increases the added value of her advice and helps her be considered one of the client’s team as opposed to just an external adviser. Over the years Alison has advised on numerous significant merger and acquisition transactions and loves helping clients reap the rewards of their hard work. Clients Alison has acted for cover a myriad of sectors including holiday park operators, care homes and children’s day nurseries, software development, manufacturing and retail and transactions include assisting clients with multi-million pound sales and acquisitions, private equity finance and complex high value demergers.
Alison has particular expertise in advising all types of businesses (both commercial and charitable) on structure and organisation (working closely with accountancy and tax firms to assist businesses with re-organisations and restructures) and provides company secretarial support for a number of key clients including Village Bakery group, the UK subsidiaries of Hillenbrand Inc. the Travcorp group and local radio station Dee 106.3. She also specialises in advising corporate lenders and borrowers on finance and security arrangements (including in relation to the Consumer Credit Act), acts for a significant number of farming partnerships and professional partnerships spanning the medical, legal and accountancy sectors and supports the firm’s Trusts and Estates team with corporate aspects of estate planning including family investment companies.
Alison also heads up the firm’s Charities and Philanthropy Team working with charities and not for profit organisations of all sizes, helping them decide on structure and put in place appropriate governing documents, policies and procedures, assisting with Charity Commission registration and using her commercial expertise to advise on the myriad of issues that are involved in operating a charity/not for profit organisation. Alison has delivered Trustee training workshops to a number of charities and has been asked to present on the role of a charity trustee at the 2025 Cheshire STEP Conference.
Alison is a member of the firm’s ESG Committee and a passionate advocate for sustainable business practices incorporating all three strands (environment, social and governance). As part of this Alison cycles to work, has taken part in numerous fundraising efforts and leads the firm’s pro bono work as part of Cheshire Connect, an organisation which “connects and enable charities and not for profit organisations across Cheshire, Warrington and Halton to reach more people and have greater impact.”
As well as speaking at events on a range of diverse topics of interest to commercial and charitable organisations (including data protection, ESG, setting up in business and roles and duties of charity trustees), Alison regularly delivers training to clients on areas such as terms and conditions of trading and recently provided a webinar on this subject to the members of CaSSOA (Caravan Storage Site Owners’ Association).
Alison has been recommended in the past 13 editions of the Legal 500 and is ranked as a Leading Individual in corporate law.
“For me the best part of doing what I do is the opportunity to really get to know a client’s business, to be by their side as a trusted adviser and to be able to offer proactive advice and assistance as they grow. Second to this is a desire to demonstrate that your lawyer does not have to be boring!”
With two teenage daughters who swim competitively Alison spends far too much of her life poolside, when she can escape she enjoys pottering in the kitchen and garden and walking her Romanian rescue dog, Slinky. In an attempt to keep up with her children (and counteract her love of food and wine) Alison also swims and runs and has hopes she might one day get back to cycling and triathlon.
“Having used DTM on previous occasions I asked them to act on my behalf when I sold a controlling interest in the Tessuti Group to JD Sports Fashion Plc. Alison Brennan expertly guided me each step of the way through what was a relatively complex transaction involving mountains of paperwork and agreements, ensuring that I achieved my financial aims when I initially agreed the sale. Alison was readily available and pro active both in supporting me and managing the transaction down to the finest detail and did it all with a smile. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either DTM or Alison.”
Dave Light, Managing Director, Tessuti
“We are a rapidly scaling technology consulting organisation, with complex UK and international needs. Our clients typically range from 500 to 50,000 in size.
We were looking for a company big enough to support us with a highly complex contracts landscape, but small enough to care about building a long-standing relationship.
Alison and the team at DTM, have been fantastic from day 1. They operate as a “virtual” part of our team and so it feels like they are invested in our growth. Super flexible and responsive in terms of responding to, often, short-term requests, we genuinely couldn’t be happier with their service and would highly recommend. Our focus was never to find the cheapest partner, but the find the one who offered the best value. We achieved that goal.”
Mark Brooks-Lewis, CEO Lavasource
“Alison Brennan will always offer support or circulate the opportunity to her colleagues. She encourages her colleagues to get involved and has a professional yet friendly and approachable manner, which helps the charities feel at ease and gives them peace of mind.”
“Alison Brennan is very helpful, supportive and knowledgeable.”
“Good, steady, reliable service, and always readily available. Charities are sympathetically treated and looked after promptly.”
Client Feedback Submitted via Legal 500
