Shoosmiths guides national governing body through new Sport England regulations
July, 2017 - Manchester, England
National law firm Shoosmiths has advised the executive board of British Powerlifting through the first phase of their national governing body organisational audit with the adoption of key constitutional documents at the national governing body’s AGM.
The adoption of the new procedures and policies will make British Powerlifting one of the first sporting bodies to respond directly to the new code for sports governance issued by Sport England and UK Sport.
The audit of the internationally affiliated National Governing Body follows Powerlifting’s phenomenal growth in popularity over the last five years.
Phase 1 of the NGB audit involved a fundamental clarification of the structure of British Powerlifting and the adoption of new Articles of Association, By-Laws, Anti-Doping Policy, Equality and Diversity Policy, Data Protection Policy, Safeguarding Policy and Grievance Procedure. The Shoosmiths team also drafted the international selection procedure which was adopted at the end of 2016.
Shoosmiths’ commercial team was led by Richard Millington and solicitor Michael Patterson and the process has seen Michael take over as head of Law and Legislation for British Powerlifting.
Richard Parker, Chief Exec of British Powerlifting commented: ‘The guidance that Michael and his team have given to the board in overcoming the challenges of our previous structure have been invaluable. The introduction of the new code for Sports Governance as we were approaching the final stages were negotiated brilliantly and showed the value of Shoosmiths’ experience in this area. We are now well placed to take the crucial next steps on our NGB journey.’
Michael added: ‘It has been a great journey with British Powerlifting and the adoption of these key documents is a key milestone in bringing their infrastructure and policies up to speed with their fantastic growth in members. When organisations grow as fast as British Powerlifting has, it is easy for the legal policies and procedures to be left behind which in turn is exacerbated by the heightened scrutiny of increased members. Although the new governance code will be new to most sports organisations, it is based heavily on the UK Corporate Governance Code and is therefore not new to our corporate team. I look forward to working with British Powerlifting on the next stages of the governing body’s growth!’
Shoosmiths Sport National Governing Body expertise is the linking of the no.1 ranked Shoosmiths corporate practice group and the Shoosmiths Sports team.
Shoosmiths’ Sports team is unique in its industry insight, achieved through many years working in-house with the likes of Nike, Manchester United, Red Bull, British Powerlifting and Manor F1. They now work to bring the benefit of those experiences and connections to athletes, teams, governing bodies and sports investors globally.
