Governance review of a Royal Charter body

Advised the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on the introduction of an entirely new governance structure

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is the medical Royal College for its speciality established by Royal Charter. Ian Hempseed was appointed as the legal advisor to the College’s Governance Working Party, whose recommendations were approved by the College’s Council. We then worked with the College’s Chief Executive and Officers to implement the recommendations including rewriting the College’s detailed Regulations to provide for an entirely new governance structure operating through a new small Board of Trustees and a larger Council for professional matters.  As part of our role we presented the changes to a 3 hour meeting of the Council.  We also liaised with the Privy Council to obtain an Order amending the Royal Charter which included an innovative provision enabling the College to specify a future date for the Charter changes to take effect, thus enabling a planned transition for the appointment of a new Board of Trustees.