An interview with Jonathan Taylor QC - Episode 44

Wednesday, 12 April 2017

In this interview Sean Cottrell interviews Jonathan Taylor, one of the world’s leading sports lawyers and asks him about his career and about a hot topics in sports law such as the Russian doping scandal and hyperandrogenism.

Jonathan is co-head of Bird & Bird's Sport Group, based in London. He advises a wide range of sports bodies (including international and national governing bodies, public agencies, event organisers, leagues, clubs, and their commercial partners and agents) on commercial matters such as the exploitation of broadcasting and sponsorship rights, contentious matters including challenges to regulatory decisions, commercial disputes, and regulatory and disciplinary issues (including in particular match-sanctioning, match-fixing and doping issues).

Jonathan is an experienced advocate, appearing regularly before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, as well as a range of internal sports tribunals. In recognition of his skills as an advocate, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2017.

In 2016, Jonathan chaired the WADA Independent Observer team that served at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and in December 2016 he was appointed chair of WADA’s Compliance Review Committee.

Jon sits as an arbitrator in sports disputes (as chairman of the International Baseball Federation’s Anti-Doping Panel, under FA Rule K, and as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of Sport Resolutions), and is also a member of the British Horseracing Authority’s Ethics Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Working Group on Legal Matters.

Holding both UK and US law degrees, Jonathan originally qualified and practised as a commercial lawyer in New York, before moving back to the UK in 1997, since he has since focused exclusively on advising sports sector clients.

Alongside his practice, Jonathan is co-editor (with Adam Lewis QC) of the leading UK sports law text, Sport: Law and Practice (3rd Edn 2014). He was a tutor at University College, Oxford (Tort Law and Administrative Law) in 1992/93 and Director of Studies in Sports Law at King's College, London from 2000 to 2007.

For more podcasts, videos, articles, events and news focused sports law visit LawInSport.com or follow us on Twitter @LawInSport. You can follow the host Sean Cottrell on Twitter at @spcott.

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