Oliver Codrington

Founder/Director

• I founded this company to commercialise my hitherto amateur interest in property development. I have a team of highly skilled tradesmen who work, through my company, on client properties while I consider and appraise investment opportunities for myself, or as joint venture projects. More information can be found at www.codringtonproperties.com

Founder/Non-Exec Director

• I co-founded a consultancy specialising in the provision of advice to those operating within regulated sports around the world. GSI has developed an innovative technology led solution to monitoring the worldwide regulated betting markets in order to provide those responsible with sports regulation have all of the information necessary to properly investigate any suspicious betting patterns. My advice, and the subject of lectures I often deliver, is primarily focussed on the rules, regulations and procedures necessary to protect the integrity of sport in the modern betting environment to complement the monitoring services offered. More information can be found at www.globalsportsintegrity.com.

Consultant

• I was retained to support the management team in reforming commercial practices within a business with ambitious growth plans. As part of the St Brides Business Alliance, this niche Asset Management consultancy intended to grow from £250M to £500M under management within 2 years. I have advised on areas such as business planning, the evaluation and recruitment of professional advisers, the introduction and drafting of staff employment contracts, performance management, expenses policies and objective evaluation to identify the strengths and weaknesses within the business to ensure its future sustainable growth and expansion. Having maintained contact, I believe the business is well on its way to reaching its goals.

Head of Compliance and Licensing/Head of Legal/Com

• Responsible for the preparation and conduct of all corruption cases within the regulatory body for horseracing in Great Britain; I prepared and prosecuted in excess of 50 cases often together with leading Counsel, many of which are still quoted as precedent setting at the forefront of sporting regulation.
• With the transfer of regulatory responsibility to the Horseracing Regulatory Authority, my role expanded to encompass advisory responsibility on a range of legal issues, including extensive drafting and procedural compliance. Soon thereafter, with the governmental desire to enhance the independent nature of regulation, the governance and regulatory functions of the horseracing industry were merged within the newly formed British Horseracing Authority.
• I was invited to head the Legal Department, as Legal Affairs Manager and Company Secretary where, in addition to my existing responsibilities, I was responsible for the provision of legal advice across the spectrum of the Authority’s work. This work ranged from negotiations on service level agreements, property leases and employment contracts, to naming rights and data licensing. My core responsibility was to implement and manage change through the application of my and others’ core competencies; I grew my team to 4 people but reduced the budget from over £2M to less than £1M.
• In 2009, in order to instigate much needed reform in the licensing of participants in horseracing, I was appointed Head of Compliance and Licensing where my responsibilities were increased to include overseeing the team (of 4) responsible for the administration of an effective, efficient and fair licensing regime. The licensing process, and the team responsible, had suffered years of under investment and the procedures were out-dated and labour intensive; during my tenure, we completed the technical specification for a computerised application system with electronic workflows between departments and stakeholders, recast job descriptions to ensure greater clarity of roles and increased motivation through opportunity. Other much needed reforms include the reduction in annual renewals in favour of longer term licence periods, an industry wide fit and proper person test and greater transparency in liaison with participant representative bodies.
• Throughout my time in horseracing, I was a key legal and regulatory advisor to the Executive team, the Chief Executive and the Board. I was regularly asked to liaise and negotiate with key industry stakeholders and to this day am still invited to speak publicly on the subject of sports regulation, the threats associated with online gambling, match fixing, and the introduction and maintenance of an effective modern licensing regime.

Caseworker

• Working as a Caseworker in the Professional Conduct Department of this regulatory body I provided advice on matters of professional conduct to veterinary surgeons and members of the public. Acting as one of two caseworkers, we processed circa 900 annual complaints against veterinary surgeons in accordance with the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 and prepared cases for public disciplinary hearings (detail of which can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk). In addition, I had an active role in the College’s Advisory Committee, and was instrumental in reviewing and implementing changes to the complaints procedure to take into account the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Data Protection Act 1998. I also played a significant role in the drafting and implementation of the new Practice Standards Scheme aimed to harmonise standards across the profession; this scheme is now accepted as the industry norm.

Inns of Court School of Law

University of Brighton, Brighton Business School