Sports Law

Michele Bernasconi advises on a broad range of sports, media, energy, telecom and IT matters, acting for both domestic and international clients. He has particular expertise in international litigation and arbitration as well as in commercial and transactional work relating to such industries.

His recent experience includes advice on outsourcing and joint venture projects, broadcasting and sponsorship agreements, ambush marketing, regulatory and antitrust work in both the telecom and sport sector, software licensing, electricity transmission and distribution, doping matters as well as international transfers of football players.

Michele Bernasconi lectures on international sports law at the University of Lucerne. He regularly speaks and publishes articles on topics within his practice areas. He is Co-director of the UEFA Football Law Programme.

Michele Bernasconi is recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers and Legal 500 further lists him in the Hall of Fame for his excellent work. Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal have listed him among the leading lawyers in Switzerland in the sports as well as in the technology, media and telecommunications sector for years. In 2018 and 2019 Who’s Who Legal recognized Michele Bernasconi with the Global Award “Sports Lawyer of the Year” as well as “Thought Leader” for the Sports Law. In 2016 Who’s Who Legal ranks him among the nine “Most Highly Regarded Individuals” for Sports & Entertainment worldwide. In its 2013 edition, the International Who’s Who of regulatory communication lawyers described Michele Bernasconi as one of the “10 Most Highly Regarded Individuals Worldwide”.

As the Principal of Soubliere Sports Law, Janie has been working in sports law for over 20 years and acts as Legal Consultant to various international clients in matters concerning anti-doping, safeguarding, governance, eligibility, anti-corruption, policy review, etc., practices arbitration and is regularly sought out to conduct investigations. A Chartered Arbitrator, she sits on sport dispute resolution panels including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Ordinary and Appeals), Ultimate Fighting Championships,  Zwift ESports and the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada.  Janie is also an Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer for the International Tennis Integrity Agency and is a trained investigator actively involved in various sport-related misconduct allegations.

Janie has taught Sport Law at Carleton University and regularly guest lectures internationally in University Sport Law courses, has acted as athlete-agent to Canadian athletes, is an Executive Board member of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame (Legal and Governance) and is a North American representative of Women in Sport Law (WISLaw). WISLaw peers voted Janie  Best Arbitrator of the Year 2021 and Best Lawyer of the Year in 2022. She also competed in NCAA Division 1 Tennis in College.

Anthony Dreyer is a commercial litigator concentrating on intellectual property, sports, entertainment and related licensing disputes. His areas of expertise include Lanham Act claims, copyright, rights of publicity, and licensing disputes.

Mr. Dreyer has been recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a top practitioner in both intellectual property and sports. He recently was named an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property and a Sports & Entertainment Trailblazer by The National Law Journal. He has repeatedly been named to the WTR 1000 by World Trademark Review as a leading trademark practitioner and as one of its Global Leaders: Private Practice. He has served as adjunct professor of law at Fordham University Law School, teaching courses on Advertising Law and Advanced Trademark Law, and at Cardozo Law School, teaching Sports and the Law.

Ian’s practice spans a wide range of transactional and regulatory areas of sports law. He is recognised by the legal directories as a leading “commercial dealmaker” “who has become a clear leader in the UK” and “an excellent lawyer, whose knowledge of the sports industry is unparalleled”. His expertise includes the financial regulation of sport (including salary caps and financial fair play), mergers and acquisitions, financing, governance, integrity, rules and regulations, sponsorship agreements, player transfers, player contracts and image rights.

He has a particular expertise in the use of data in the sports industry, has spoken widely on the subject, advises a number of companies in the area and sits on the board of STATSports as a non-executive director.

Ian’s recent work highlights include advising Chelsea FC on its acquisition for £4.25 billion by the Boehly/Clearlake consortium, advising Spotify on its first-of-its-kind partnership with FC Barcelona and advising Elliott Advisors on the sale of AC Milan to Redbird Capital Partners for €1.2 billion.

In Richards’s 40-year career in commercial litigation, he has expanded his perspective by cultivating relationships in the international commercial arbitration community.

Richard has memberships in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Beijing Arbitration Commission, the London Court of International Arbitration and the Dubai International Arbitration Centre. Richard also has a seat in the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Council of Distinguished Advisors at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. International organizations such as the Sports Law Institute at Marquette University, Basketball Arbitral Tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland, and the FIA International Court of Appeal (the governing body of Formula One Racing) have sought his expertise. Thankfully, Richard likes to travel!

Richard’s wealth of international experience benefits his clients during litigation of international commercial disputes. Additionally, Richard practice includes:

• labour and employment law
• bankruptcy and insolvency
• banking and secured financing
• sports law
• alternative dispute resolution

Richard is a senior law professor at Western University, and also serves academia as a member of the Corporation of Huron University College, director of the Western Business Law Clinic, and as chairman emeritus of the Board of Governors Trinity College School. In 2011, Western Law established the Richard H. McLaren Visiting Professorship in Business Law to recognize his contributions to the school and the field.

Founding partner of Bichara and Motta Advogados, Marcos Motta obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Business Law, Masters (LL.M) in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick (England), a Master’s Degree Honoris Causa in International Law from the Superior Institute de Derecho y Economia-ISDE (Spain) and holds a Certificate of Negotiation and Leadership from Harvard Law School.

Marcos Motta has been active in the sports market since 1997, when he started as Director and International Representative for C.R. Flamengo. Since then, he has acted as legal adviser in hundreds of cases and arbitrations before national and international courts involving different issues, such as contractual, commercial, disciplinary and regulatory disputes, being also an active and recognized figure in the field of entertainment, advising high-profile clients, ranging from film and TV to fashion.

Marcos Motta provided legal advice on some of the largest commercial deals in the global sports market, as well as participating in the Brazilian Government working group to review the “Pelé Law” in 2008 of the FIFA Working Group to regulate the ” TPO “. He was a member of the Legal Committee of the Brazilian Federal Senate in charge to prepare the draft of the General Law of the Brazilian Sport.

In the academic field, he is a professor of several masters and a visiting lecturer in the most renowned educational institutions in Brazil, Europe and the United States, always in subjects related to sport and entertainment. He is a member of REX Sports, member of the Council of the European Football Agents Association – EFAA and the Executive Committee of the Association Internationale des Avocats du Football-AIAF.

Marcos Motta has been nominated annually since 2014 by the renowned “Chambers & Partners” and “Who’s Who Legal” publications as one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment lawyers, and has been named a “Thought Leader” by WWL.

A lawyer at the Paris Bar since 1985. She has created and runs the Cabinet MOYERSOEN Avocats since 1988. Holder of a DEA in International Private Law from the Faculty of Law Paris VIII, she quickly specialized in the areas of law copyright, entertainment law and sports law.

As an Of Counsel and a member of our sports team in Düsseldorf, I am an expert sports lawyer, with decades of experience behind me. I’m also a certified specialist lawyer in employment law.

You’ll find me listed in the leading legal guides. The JUVE Handbook of German Commercial Law Firms rates me as one of the most recommended lawyers in sports law, and in 2009 I was named as one of the World’s Top 20 Most Influential Lawyers in sport by SportBusiness International magazine.

As a former member of the German national basketball team, I began my career advising athletes, sports associations and unions in amateur and professional sport at national and international level. I was a member of the Legal Committee and the Anti-Doping-Commission of the German Basketball Federation as well as a member of the Arbitration Body of the German Ice Hockey League.

Since 1999, I have been an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne and was a member of the CAS Ad Hoc Divisions during the London 2012 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games. For many years, I was the Chairman of the Sports Law Commission of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA). Additionally, I am a member of the International Sport Lawyers Association and of the advisory board of the German Association for Sports Law (DVSR) as well as member of the executive committee of the ‘Sportrecht’ working group of the Deutschen Anwaltverein (DAV). I am also a member of the FISA Ethic Group, which I joined in 2015.

I am the publisher of the ‘Beck’sches Formularbuch Sportrecht’ (Sports law form book), author of the practice handbook ‘Sportrecht’ (Sports law) and co-editor of the leading commentary on the Law of Clubs and Associations (‘Reichert – Vereins- und Verbandsrecht’). I have also published many articles on the legal issues surrounding sport and am a lecturer in sports law, sports management and labour law at the University of Bochum and Hochschule Fresenius Köln.

Lawyer Wu graduated from the Law School of Shanghai University in 1990, and then studied at the Department of International Finance of East China Normal University; he also studied at the Business School of the University of Montana, Michigan, USA in 1996, and obtained a master’s degree in business administration in 1998 . As the co-founder of a well-known Chinese law firm, he joined Kone Law Firm in 2017. Attorney Wu is currently the director of the Sports Business Research Committee of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, an arbitrator of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (Court of Arbitration for Sport), the Chinese ambassador of the Swiss Arbitration Association, the convener of the Disciplinary and Dispute Resolution Committee of the CBA League, and an arbitrator of the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. member, deputy head of the Sports Law Research Group of the Shanghai Law Society, member of the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee and the Arbitration Committee of the Chinese Basketball Association, executive member/director of the Legal Committee of the China Sailing and Windsurfing Association, advisory member of the Shanghai Hearing Center of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, and member of the Chinese Baseball Association Director of the Association/Director of the Legal Arbitration Committee, Distinguished Researcher of the Sports Law Research Center of Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, Practice Instructor of Master of Laws of Shanghai Municipal Law School, Arbitrator of Langfang Arbitration Committee.

Emma is Senior Forum Director and Financial Services Lead at Cambridge Executive Connections (CEC), a subsidiary of Cambridge Forums, Inc. Naturally curious and a lifelong learner, Emma has developed and managed a variety of meetings in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Before joining Cambridge, Emma was Assistant Vice President, Global Marketing at State Street in Canada, where she spent close to two decades of her career, offering her a great depth of knowledge and understanding of the financial and investment sectors. In Emma’s current role, she leads CEC’s Financial Services portfolio, including programs for institutional investors, banking, private funds, risk, and governance professionals.