The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Director of Regulation. Phillip Law takes over this position from Mark Bird who currently holds the posts of both Managing Director and Director of Regulation at the GBGB. Following a regulation review, it was decided to separate the role with Mark becoming GBGB Chief Executive Officer.
Phillip joins GBGB from the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. A highly experienced and successful solicitor advocate and litigator, Phillip specialises in overseeing regulatory and integrity proceedings in the professional disciplinary jurisdiction and high-level sport. He has been appointed as a Chair and Panel Member of the England Boxing National Disciplinary Panel and was an advocate at UK Anti-Doping. Before moving into professional and sports regulation, he spent a decade in criminal defence practice, working on a number of high-profile cases.
Under the direction of the Greyhound Regulatory Board (GRB), Phillip will oversee all matters relating to GBGB’s regulatory function, including registration, licensing, disciplinary matters and the drug sampling programme.
Welcoming Phillip to the role, Jeremy Cooper, GBGB Chair, said: “Maintaining the very highest standards of integrity is absolutely crucial to our sport. We have very clear Rules of Racing which we expect everyone within our sport to adhere to at all times. It is therefore right that we have a dedicated member of the team overseeing all regulatory matters so that we can ensure we protect the governance and reputation of our sport.
“We are very pleased that Phil has taken on this role. As an experienced lawyer within the field of sports regulation, he possesses the skills and expertise needed to carry out this role and ensure we continue to uphold our world-leading standards of integrity.
”As Chief Executive, Mark can now focus all his time and energies on our driving our sport forward – both in terms of raising welfare standards and exploring commercial opportunities. Mark has played a pivotal role in implementing these initiatives and I look forward to seeing the sport progress and evolve over the next few years.”
Commenting on his appointment, Phillip, said: “I am an avid sports fan and am very familiar with the sporting regulatory landscape. As a sport involving animals, it is so important that GBGB and our licensees constantly uphold the high welfare and integrity standards that we all want and expect from the sport.
“This is a new and exciting challenge and I look forward to working with my new colleagues and stakeholders within the sport.”
