New Certified Parliamentarian With The Sport Law & Strategy Group

Published September 16, 2019

The Sport Law & Strategy Group is pleased to announce that one of our associates, Jason Robinson, has successfully passed the exam to become a Certified Parliamentarian with the American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP).  The AIP is a not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1958 for the advancement of parliamentary procedure. As a Certified Parliamentarian (CP), Jason is accredited with a high standard of knowledge and expertise in two parliamentary authorities; Robert’s Rules or Order and the AIP Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure. As an active meeting facilitator/chair, Jason enrolled in this intensive certification process in 2017 to invest in his own capacity as a sport consultant and to provide the sport community with additional governance support. Jason recognized that while sport leaders understand the importance of fair and democratic meetings, there is a lack of understanding on how to apply the rules. Many sport leaders are also unaware of the benefits of bringing in a third-party presiding officer (Chair), or parliamentarian to assist the Chair. His goals moving forward are to educate Canadian sport organizations on the need for greater knowledge of the parliamentary rules that may be referenced in their bylaws, and to provide ongoing parliamentary support of sport leaders who face meeting challenges.

“As someone who prides himself on having strong meeting protocol and rules knowledge, I was blown away at how much I still have to learn and how complex a parliamentary code such as Robert’s Rules can be,” shared Jason. “As a member of the AIP Toronto Chapter for the last three years, through several online courses and workshops, and through this certification process, my parliamentary knowledge has grown exponentially. There are so many meeting challenges that can easily be mishandled, and so many rules that can be misinterpreted or even abused. Through this journey, I have experienced and learned from these practical and situational challenges. I have also learned how best to handle those challenges in a manner that is fair and ethical while protecting the rights of all participants. I am excited to share this knowledge with sport leaders and support sport organizations in hosting effective and well-governed meetings.”

What is a Parliamentarian? A Parliamentarian is an expert in interpreting and applying Rules of Order for meetings, to make them run more efficiently and democratically. Member-based organizations that elect their own officers usually have established parliamentary procedures that they follow for their meetings such as Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 11th Edition. A Parliamentarian provides advice to Boards, Committees and presiding officers to ensure that meetings are run according to the rules which everyone has agreed to beforehand, in a manner that enables members to participate equitably. A Parliamentarian also contributes expertise in Bylaws creation and amendments, elections, and governance.

With this certification, Jason joins fellow SLSG associate Kathy Hare, who studied parliamentary procedure at the University of Wisconsin and is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians, as our second expert parliamentarian (read Kathy’s 2017 blog here). If you are interested in learning more about meeting rules and the use of parliamentary procedure, please join Jason and Kathy on our webinar on September 25th! The webinar is titled ‘Managing Your Meeting Challenges & Demystifying Parliamentary Procedure’ and more information can be found at: https://sportlaw.ca/webinar-series/