Good governance

We provide specialist advice on issues of sports governance and regulation, ranging from the structuring of regulatory bodies to achieve best practice in sports governance, to the establishment of company and joint venture vehicles to enable the efficient organisation of events and the effective exploitation of the related commercial rights.

We advise international federations, national organisations and event organisers as to how they should organise themselves internally and exercise their powers, in order to carry out their duties and functions effectively. Specifically, we advise on best practice in how power should be allocated between the governing body and its members, and between the board and executive staff; how boards should be elected and composed (including gender balance and independent members); and on ensuring transparency and accountability in the governance of the sport, to ensure that stakeholders remain confident that the sport governing bodies are ready, willing, and able to take the robust action necessary to protect the integrity and safety of their sports.

Our work in this area includes:

• drafting the constitutional documents of the governing body to reflect accurately its objectives, to reflect the balance of powers between the members, the board and executive, with appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms;
• codifying the ethics and conduct requirements in a Code of Ethics or the like;
• establishing independence in decision-making about rule breaches, to insulate the executive board from attack and to ensure public confidence in the proper enforcement of the rules to all officials and participants, without fear or favour; and
• designing and implementing the governance framework for the organisation, including appropriate compliance mechanisms.

Case studies

International Biathlon Union (IBU): Through our work on the IBU External Review Commission, we assisted in the drafting of a brand new constitution for the IBU reflecting best practice in international sports governance, including setting up a new independent unit, the Biathlon Integrity Unit. The constitution was adopted at an Extraordinary Congress of the IBU in October 2019, for more information click here. The Biathlon Integrity Unit is now up and running.  

English Football League (EFL): In 2019-20 we conducted a review of the EFL's governance systems and structures to help identify improvements required to ensure that the EFL is governed effectively and efficiently, in accordance with best practice, and to the satisfaction of its stakeholders. Click here for more information. 

Key Contacts

Jonathan Taylor, Max Duthie