Speakers confirmed to discuss key Issues in sports law in 2016 and Beyond

25 February 2016, Twickenham Stadium, London

Athlete Rights - Protecting the rights of athletes

Michele Verroken, Director, Sporting Integrity (Chairperson)

Michele Verroken is Founding Director of Sporting Integrity, the international sports consultancy which specialises in integrity and governance advancement in sport. Among her clients are Major Games Organisations (inc. Commonwealth Games Federation, Sport Accord), International and National Sports Federations, Professional Sports (covering sports as diverse as Golf, Mixed Martial Arts, eSports), athletes, medical, media and law professionals.

Her career began as a teacher and lecturer in human and sports sciences before taking a management role at The Sports Council in 1987. Her first assignment with the then Sports Minister Colin Moynihan and Vice Chairman Sebastian Coe, was to create the UK’s first Independent Anti-Doping Programme, the key recommendation of the Moynihan/Coe Report.

Among other achievements during her time as Director of Ethics and Anti-Doping, then Drug-Free Sport at UK Sport are a number of firsts:

The first ISO certified procedures for Anti-Doping in the world;
The Football Association’s illicit, recreational drugs programme;
The first Drug Information Database and first whistle blowing line in sport;
Support systems for Athletes accused of doping violations.

Michele is a member of several sports arbitration panels and visiting lecturer in Sports Ethics for several university MSc courses. Academically Michele holds the Post Graduate Certificate in Sports Law (Kings College London), LLM in Sports Law (De Montfort University), MA in Education, B.Ed (Arts and Science of Movement). Sporting achievements include international handball, korfball and netball. She recent retired from county and league cricket to find time, amongst other interests, to sit on the board of British Weightlifting. A strong advocate for athletes’ rights in sport, Michele actively campaigns for fairness and respect in sport.

Jeffrey Benz, Door Tenant, 4 New Square and CAS Arbitrator

Jeff is a Door Tenant at 4 New Square Chambers, London and accomplished arbitrator and mediator. As a former General Counsel of the United States Olympic Committee, and former athlete, Jeff's sports credentials are without compare. Jeff has acted as a neutral or counsel in a wide variety of sports, including, among others, ice hockey, gymnastics, speedskating, figure skating, football and soccer, rugby, track and field, team handball, equestrian, table tennis, triathlon, wrestling, tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, boxing, cycling, sailing, and complex disputes and transactions involving sponsorships, film financings and production, technology, licensing, and live events.

Born in the US, he earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees at the University of Michigan and his law degree at the University of Texas, and is admitted as a member of the bar of the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, and New York, and a variety of United States federal courts. Jeff also attended a semester at the Queen Mary University of London and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and started his professional career as an intern in Lloyd’s Claims Office in London.

Jeff’s UK, and European, practice is devoted primarily to acting as mediator and arbitrator. Jeff has strong background in the law governing disputes and transactions in entertainment, sports, technology, and insurance, and he has been involved in general commercial practice his entire career. He is a CEDR-accredited mediator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and he is a principal mediator and arbitrator with the Agency for Dispute Resolution in Los Angeles. His work as an intermediary or counsel has taken him around the world, throughout the United States, and to, among other places, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, Moldova, Georgia, Thailand, Kenya, Mexico, and, of course, the United Kingdom.

He has extensive practical experience and training (as both counsel and neutral) in arbitration, mediation and other forms of non-court dispute resolution. He is an active, appointed, member of several panels of arbitrators and mediators in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Switzerland, the U.K and internationally, including the American Arbitration Association, Hong Kong International Arbitration Commission, Beijing Arbitration Commission, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), London Court of International Arbitration, ICC-USCIB, Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and Rugby Football Union (RFU).

Jeff is an active member of the American Bar Association, the Swiss Arbitration Association, the Sports Lawyers Association (where he is a long-time member of the Board and serves as International Committee Chair), and the National Sports Law Institute.

Jeff is an adjunct professor at the law schools at Los Angeles-based Pepperdine University and Madrid-based ISDE, and he contributes regularly to the literature on dispute resolution and sports law. Since 2013, Jeff has been named as one of a handful of worldwide professionals in the Who’s Who of Entertainment and Sports Law, where he is one of the few neutrals so recognized in the field.

Emma Mason, Former Chair of Athletes Commission for Badminton World Federation and Trainee Lawyer, Squire Patton Boggs Federation's

Emma is a trainee solicitor at Squire Patton Boggs who has completed seats in corporate, international dispute resolution, sports litigation and is currently on secondment to Chelsea Football Club. During her traineeship Emma has, from a sporting perspective, assisted with the sale of a Championship football club and the provision of advice to various International Federations and Premier League football clubs.

Prior to entering the law, Emma was an international badminton player representing Scotland at European, Commonwealth and World Championship level. Emma has 27 caps for her country and, in 2010, was elected by her fellow players to the World Badminton Federation’s Athletes Commission. Emma was Vice-Chair 2010 to 2012 following which she became the first female Chair of the Commission a position she held until her term ended in 2015. As Chair of the Commission Emma was a full voting member of the World Badminton Federation’s Council. At present, Emma is a member of Badminton Europe’s Major Events and Fan Base Commissions and is appointed by the Badminton Europe Board to set up the Continental Confederation’s inaugural Athletes Commission. Emma is also a member of British Showjumping’s Disciplinary Panel and British Triathlon’s Audit and Governance Committee.

Emma has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry with a dissertation focusing on the EPO test and the Athlete Biological Passport. She is also a graduate of UK Sport’s International Leadership Programme and a 2015 WeAreTheCity Rising Star.

Away from work, Emma is, unsurprisingly, a life long sports addict with a particular soft spot for Heart of Midlothian (home team), Sheffield Wednesday (father’s team), Andy Murray (who doesn’t love a stroppy Scot?!) and currently training for the Edinburgh marathon, aiming to beat her previous 3.31 time!

Richard Bryan, Director of Rugby, Rugby Player’s Association

Richard is the Rugby Director of the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA), overseeing the delivery of the RPA’s Personal Development Programme and Player Welfare Programme to professional rugby players in England. He also represents the RPA’s members on numerous sub-committees of the Professional Game Board and provides access to legal services for RPA members.

Richard is a qualified lawyer and former professional rugby player, having played for Bath, Bridgend, Celtic Warriors, Newport Gwent Dragons and Leeds during his career. During his time in Wales, Richard also served as a Player Representative on the Board of the Welsh Rugby Players’ Association. Having retired from professional rugby through injury, Richard qualified and practised in Clarke Willmott’s sports law team and also advised the RPA on legal issues during his time with Clarke Willmott. Richard assumed the role of RPA Rugby Director in June 2014 having previously delivered the RPA’s Personal Development Programme to players at Bath Rugby and London Irish.

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Anti-Doping - What is the future of anti-doping following IAAF & Essendon scandals?

Sean Cottrell, CEO, LawInSport (Chairperson)

Sean is the founder and CEO of LawInSport. Founded in 2010, LawInSport has become the "go to sports law website" for sports lawyers and sports executives across the world.

Sean works with lawyers and law firms to create targeted and accessible legal content, develop marketing strategies and provide training on digital media. Sean is a visiting lecturer of sports business and sports ethics at Ithica College and Syracuse University London campuses.

Sean has written articles and produced podcasts and videos on the regulation of boxing, match-fixing, doping, sports governance, third party ownership in football, sports sponsorship and social media.

Before founding LawInSport.com Sean studied sport science and law after working in the legal sector for 15 years in finance and marketing. Sean has worked for some of leading international law firms including DLA Piper, Simmons & Simmons, CMS Cameron McKenna and SJ Berwin. His passions are law, sport, marketing, education, technology and charity.

Olivier Niggli, General Counsel / Chief Operating Officer, World Anti-Doping Agency

Prior to holding his current position, Olivier Niggli was a partner with the law firm Carrard & Associés in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was active in sport, arbitration and commercial law. He possesses extensive experience in the fight against doping, including his time as WADA’s Legal Director and Chief Financial Officer from 2001-2011.

Olivier Niggli holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an MBA from McGill University, and is fluent in both English and French. With his background and experience, he brings expertise to WADA in the legal, financial and governance areas.

Brent Nowicki, Legal Counsel, Court of Arbitration for Sport

Brent John Nowicki is currently Legal Counsel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He joined the CAS in 2013 after 7 years as an attorney with the law firm of Hodgson Russ LLP in New York. He received his undergraduate degree from Fairfield University, where he was a member of the Division I lacrosse program, and his Juris Doctor from the State University of New York, University at Buffalo, with honours.

Mr. Nowicki has extensive and unique experience in the field of sports law. He has represented various parties while in the private practice of law, and served as a consultant for a number of clients in the sports industry. While in private practice, Mr. Nowicki represented various parties in contract negotiations, rights of publicity, as well as legal representations of grievances, hearings, and appeals. On an international level, Mr. Nowicki has currently been active in the anti-doping movement in Olympic sports, handling several major doping cases in his role as Legal Counsel to the CAS. His current work at the CAS exposes him to virtually every sporting dispute between sporting federations, associations (FIFA and UEFA), leagues, teams, and players. Notably, Mr. Nowicki is the first North American attorney to act as Legal Counsel at the CAS.

Mr. Nowicki routinely speaks on the issues of anti-doping and sports law, is regularly quoted in major newspapers and periodicals, and has acted as a political advisor in the area of sport doping. He also serves on the International Committee of the Sports Lawyers Association, the Board of Directors for the Police Athletic League of Buffalo, New York and is the Men’s Lacrosse Coach for Switzerland’s National Lacrosse Team.

Marjolaine Viret, Attorney, World Anti-Doping Code Commentary Project, University Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Member of UCI Anti-Doping Commission

Dr Marjolaine Viret is an attorney admitted to the Geneva bar (Switzerland) who specialises in sports and life sciences.

She gained considerable experience in litigation and international arbitration as a senior associate in one of Switzerland’s leading law firms, frequently appearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and advising clients - including major sports federations - on doping and other regulatory matters. She has also held positions within interdisciplinary expert groups or committees in sports organisations, currently as a member of the UCI Anti-Doping Commission.

Marjolaine participates as a researcher for the Swiss National Science Foundation in the WADC Commentary project at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), under the direction of Prof. Antonio Rigozzi, with the goal of producing the first comprehensive legal commentary of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code. She holds a PhD from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). Her doctoral thesis dealt with the interplay between scientific and legal components in doping regulation. She has also obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Health Law, specifically on the regulation of therapeutic products, research and innovation.

In her legal consultant and research activities, Marjolaine’s interests focus on interdisciplinary approaches to anti-doping and other science-related domains. She is actively involved in developing strategies in the fight against doping and in the implementation of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code. She is regularly invited to lecture or speak internationally, to both legal and scientific audiences. Her book “Evidence in Anti-Doping at the Intersection of Science & Law” has been published in 2015 through T.M.C Asser Press / Springer.

Norman Wain, General Counsel, Chief of Business Affairs, USA Track & Field

Norman Wain is presently employed as General Counsel, Chief of Business Affairs at USA Track & Field, Inc., the national governing body for the sport of track and field, long distance running, and race walking in the United States. His responsibilities include managing all business and legal matters for the organization (e.g. negotiating all contracts, managing corporate governance, handling anti-doping matters, monitoring of the agent program, litigation oversight, etc).

Prior to Norm joining USA Track & Field, he was the Vice President – Corporate Legal Affairs at The Finish Line, Inc., a billion dollar publicly traded athletic specialty retailer in the United States, where he was responsible for the management and administration of the legal department. He also worked in the Business & Legal Affairs Department at Writers & Artists Agency, Inc., a prestigious Los Angeles talent agency (later purchased by Paradigm) and spent some time at Fox Sports and in private practice (litigation).

Norm is an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University where he teaches a graduate sports law course. He was the founding chair for the recently formed sports & entertainment committee for the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), where he also served on their national board of directors. In addition, Norm sits as one of the inaugural advisory board members for Law In Sport, the largest international sports law legal publication. He has spoken at both domestic and international conferences and seminars on many sports law related topics. Norm received his B.A. Degree from the University of California at Berkeley, along with Phi Beta Kappa Honors, and his J.D. Degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law.

Gemma Collis, 2012 Paralympian. 2x World Cup Medallist. Wheelchair Fencing British Champion

Growing up Gemma was very athletic and participated in a variety of sports, competing at national level in Figure Skating and representing her county in Hockey and Athletics. By the age of fifteen, she was county triple jump champion and had high ambitions of competing for her country.

However, in 2008, Gemma’s dreams were cruelly dashed when she was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a progressive nervous system disease that affects the functioning of the nerves in her right leg. Gemma was devastated and believed that her sporting career was over.

Determined to remain involved in sport, Gemma began coaching, officiating and volunteering at sports events, discovering more about disability sport in the process. Gemma began playing Wheelchair Basketball in 2010, competing for the Newcastle Eagles and Wales. It was not until she started her Law degree at Durham University that Gemma tried Wheelchair Fencing for the first time, after being spotted by a GB coach. Gemma loved the sport immediately and her potential was clear.

Three months later Gemma represented Great Britain at her first international competition, the 2012 Malchow Wheelchair Fencing World Cup, and, just ten months after taking up the sport, competed at the London 2012 Paralympics. She competed as part of the women's Team Epee, alongside Gabi Down and Justine Moore, and the trio finished in 8th place.

In spite of a serious illness affecting her ability to eat which caused her to take an entire year out of the sport in 2013, Gemma has bounced back and now has her sights firmly set on Rio 2016. Having won her first two World Cup Medals last season, she has shot up the world rankings and currently sits 9th in the World.

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Governance - Creating a culture of accountability and transparency

Nina Goolamali, Barrister and Head of Sport, 2 Temple Gardens (Chairperson)

Acknowledged in the legal directories as being "an exceptional senior junior" who "performs better than some silks" and "just keeps getting better", Nina has a very well established practice in sports-related litigation.

Nina leads the 2TG Sports Law Team and has been described in Chambers UK as a "sports expert". She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Law from King’s College, London and is on the Editorial Board of LawInSport.

Her sports practice encompasses injury, regulatory and commercial/contractual matters. She acts for players, teams and national governing bodies in all major sports but is particularly sought after in the field of Motorsport (Formula 1, Formula E, MotoGP, MotoCross, Speedway & Karting), rugby and football.

Clients include Paul Di Resta, F1 driver with Force India 2010-2013 (in dispute with his former F1 management company, HMG, and Anthony Hamilton, father of world Champion Lewis Hamilton); the Amateur Motor Cycle Association (AMCA); the Auto Cycle Union (ACU), the MCF & leading Rugby & Football Clubs.

Nina is a member of the Sport Resolutions UK Pro Bono Legal Service which is made up of lawyers willing to provide pro-bono legal advice and representation to athletes, coaches, team officials, and other individuals appearing before Sport Resolutions and other sport specific tribunals.

Jaimie Fuller, Chairman, SKINS

Jaimie Fuller is an Australian businessman who is Executive Chairman of the international sports compression wear company, SKINS (www.skins.net).

Jaimie is a hugely passionate sports fan whose sporting prowess was (and still is) inversely proportional to his passion. He is committed to the SKINS ethos of ‘Fuelling the True Spirit of Competition’ as a central platform of its brand identity. This was illustrated in 2010 when SKINS withdrew their sponsorship of Australian National Rugby League club Melbourne Storm after the club was found guilty of systematically cheating the league's salary cap to gain an advantage over rival teams. Melbourne Storm were subsequently stripped of a series of league honours and fined almost $2 million. The decision to withdraw sponsorship was commercially a costly one, but considered necessary for the sake of the company’s position on the values of fair play.

In 2012, Jaimie founded the international pressure group, Change Cycling Now (CCN). The move was inspired by the growing international criticism of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and its handling of cycling’s doping issues including the Lance Armstrong scandal. The group included three times Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and investigative journalists David Walsh and Paul Kimmage and added significant weight to the global debate on the future of cycling and its governing body. Jaimie’s work with Change Cycling Now resulted in the sitting president of the UCI going into the presidential elections without a nomination and subsequently losing his leadership position. Prior to the election, Change Cycling Now endorsed the new president of the UCI, Brian Cookson.

In 2013, Jaimie established the anti-doping campaign, #ChooseTheRightTrack. This campaign was delivered in combination with a new SKINS platform, Pure Sport (www.puresport.skins.net) which celebrates and promotes the true values of sport free from corruption and drugs. The campaign was a result of a series of discussions between Jaimie and former Olympic 100 metre champion Ben Johnson about workable options to eradicate doping in sport. Ben’s involvement helped focus people’s attention on the requirements for positive change in anti-doping. The #ChooseTheRightTrack campaign was targeted at the IOC, lobbying for the establishment of an Athletes Support Council plus greater funding for WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). Four weeks after the conclusion of the campaign, the IOC announced a one off $20 million extra investment to be matched by government to be spent on anti doping research and combatting match fixing.

In 2014, Jaimie and SKINS set their sights on the practices and leadership of FIFA. Jaimie co-founded the movement and campaign #NewFIFANow to reclaim football by calling out and eradicating the serial allegations of corruption and unacceptable governance practises dogging the sport. To further promote these aims, #NewFIFANow established an awareness-raising campaign and social discussion to canvass the many issues that dog football resulting in a Charter and Guiding Principles for FIFA Reform, letter-writing campaigns to football associations, the FIFA Executive and sponsors and a fans’ sentiment survey.

Following an inaugural forum of stakeholders in the European Parliament in January 2015, Jaimie declared SKINS an ‘Official Non-Sponsor’ of FIFA in light of the vastly divergent values of SKINS and FIFA. He also created a marketing campaign targeting sponsors known as the Hypocrisy World Cup that highlighted the gap between sponsors’ rhetoric on business integrity and human rights and the organisation and tournaments they chose to sponsor. In January 2016, #NewFIFANow set-up an opportunity for the FIFA Presidential candidates to present and debate their policy platforms at the European Parliament – but the debate did not take place due to some underhanded skulduggery by a non-attending candidate and only one candidate fulfilled his commitment to attend.

Jaimie is also a regular commentator on integrity in sport and sports governance issues. He has also become a contributor to public forums and amongst others, was a speaker at the Play The Game conference in Denmark in October 2013 and 2015 and at the “I Play Fair” Sports conference hosted by South African Institute for Drug-free Sport in Capetown in November 2013. He blogs regularly at watercooler.skins.net.

Jane Purdon, Head of Governance, UK Sport

Jane Purdon joined UK Sport in May 2015 as Head of Governance and Leadership. Prior to this she worked for 14 years at the highest levels of professional English football.

Jane qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and joined Sunderland Association Football Club as Club Secretary and Solicitor in 2001. She was Sunderland’s first ever in-house lawyer, and one of the first at any Premier League club. After four eventful years at Sunderland, Jane joined the Premier League in 2005, becoming its first ever Director of Governance in 2011. Her responsibilities at the Premier League included a range of issues relating to club governance (including the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability requirements, and the owners’ and directors’ test) and the probity of the transfer system (e.g. third party ownership, and the regulation of intermediaries/agents).

UK Sport provides strategic investment to support athletes and sports to compete and win medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Jane’s work as Head of Governance and Leadership is to support the sports governing bodies in which UK Sport invests to achieve high standards of governance, to ensure that they fit to receive public funds and that their governance and leadership positively impact on and support success. The government has recently tasked UK Sport and Sport England, with the other home nations sports councils, with agreeing the new UK Sports Governance Code, which the government wishes to be the ‘gold standard’ for governing sports bodies. Jane will play a leading role in the development of the new Code.

Brendan Schwab, CEO, Uni World Athletes

Australian lawyer Brendan Schwab is the Head of UNI World Athletes, the global player association across professional sport.

The Swiss based collective of 85,000 athletes unites major player associations including the Fédération Internationale des Associations Footballeurs Professionnels (FIFPro), the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, the International Rugby Players’ Association, EU Athletes, the US National Basketball Players Association, the US National Football League Players Association, the National Hockey League Players Association (US and Canada), the Japanese Baseball Players Association and the Australian Athletes’ Alliance (AAA).

Brendan has over 20 years experience in the collective representation of professional athletes and the player association movement. He served as FIFPro Vice President, Board member and Chairman of FIFPro Division Asia / Oceania between 2007 and 2015. He is a former General Secretary of the AAA, the peak body for Australia’s eight major player associations, and Chief Executive of Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), the exclusive collective bargaining agent for players in Australia’s men’s and women’s national football teams and leagues. He played a key role in the reform and professionalisation of the Australian football industry and helped pioneer the development of the player association movement in Australia. As Chairman of FIFPro Asia, he oversaw the development of player associations in nine nations throughout the region including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Palestine.

He holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Business Administration from RMIT University.

James Kitching, Head of Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary, and Governance at the Asian Football Confederation

James Kitching joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in July 2012, having graduated with distinction as one of the top postgraduates from the prestigious International Master in the Manager, Law and Humanities of Sport programme at the Centre International d'Etude du Sport, Switzerland. Working in the AFC’s in-house legal team as Head of Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary and Governance, James leads a small unit which is responsible for all sports regulatory matters. James is the Secretary to the AFC judicial bodies, represents the AFC in matters before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, drafts and interprets regulations, oversees legal issues at AFC competitions and advises a variety of stakeholders on matters related to governance within the global and Asian sports framework.

James is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in the Supreme Court of South Australia. Prior to joining the AFC, James worked in the Australian public and private sectors specialising in corporate criminal and administrative law. James also served as a tribunal member for Basketball South Australia. In 2007-2011, James was the General Secretary of Old Ignatians Soccer Club, the second largest amateur football club in South Australia, which played in the fourth and fifth tier of the Australian football pyramid. In 2016, James was appointed by the Australian Olympic Committee to its National Federation appeals panel for Olympic selection disputes.

Nigel Boardman, Partner, Slaughter and May

Nigel’s broad practice includes domestic and international corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, IPOs, demergers, private acquisitions and disposals, private equity, public takeovers, issues of compliance and corporate governance, investigations and insolvency, restructurings, investigations and sports law.
Nigel has received a number of accolades including:

the Financial Times' Special Achievement Award
Chambers Directories Lifetime Achievement award
Lawyer of the Decade award from Financial News (2015)
included in Debrett's 'Who's Who'
ranked as a 'star performer' for Corporate and M&A work by Chambers in its UK, Europe and Global directories

Nigel is a consulting editor of the Oxford University Press' 'Annotated Companies Acts'. He is a Trustee of the British Museum and a Vice President of Save the Children UK.

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Anti-Corruption - How to tackle individual and institutional corruption in sport

Kevin Carpenter, Captivate Legal and Sports Services (Chair Person)

Kevin Carpenter (@KevSportsLaw) is the Principal of his own consultancy business Captivate Legal & Sports Solutions (@CaptivateLSS). He has experience across a broad range of disciplines including regulatory, intellectual property, dispute resolution, anti-corruption, competition and commercial.

In the sports sector, Kevin advises individuals, governing bodies and public organisations on law, business and policy. His expertise is in integrity, governance and regulatory matters.

Since starting Captivate in Summer 2016, Kevin’s highlights include prosecuting disciplinary cases and drafting an anti-bribery and integrity policy for a national sports governing body and writing a significant proportion of the new ICSA Advanced Certificate in Sport Governance and Administration. He is currently assisting an international sports federation with cases of international match-fixing and assisting with writing the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Resource Guide on Investigating Match-Fixing. He was also appointed to the European volleyball governing body’s disciplinary chamber.

During his career he has independently sought to work outside the law and has done so successfully as an advisor to LawInSport, as well as being a member of the Editorial Board and previously Editor, a non-executive director to two organisations and academic lecturer.

His expertise, knowledge and manner has led him to be make regular appearances internationally delivering presentations and commenting in the media on topical issues. In addition his research and writing is published across a variety of forums, most commonly on LawInSport.

Outside of his primary passion for the many and varied aspects of his work, his other passion is his seven years (and counting) as a football referee, tutor and mentor and now as a rugby union referee.

Keith Oliver, Managing Partner, Peters & Peters

Keith specialises in commercial, regulatory, sports and trust litigation, and heads the specialist commercial litigation and civil fraud and asset freezing team at Peters & Peters. He has spent his career specialising in international disputes and the location, freezing and recovery of misappropriated assets involving emergency relief procedures and the management of legal teams from many jurisdictions. His work often involves multi-jurisdictional actions in the USA, continental Europe and worldwide. He is widely recognised as one of the UK's leading lawyers in civil fraud and major international disputes with a reputation for addressing and resolving the most intractable of disputes and crises faced by individuals and companies.

Ian Smith, Director, Sports Integrity Matters

Ian is an expert in Sports Governance and Regulation with a particular emphasis on Integrity. He is the proprietor of Sports Integrity Matters and advises sports organisations, having over 20 years’ experience in the field. He left private practice in 2004 when a partner and head of Sports Law at Clarke Willmott in order to become Legal Director of the Professional Cricketers Association and, from 2013 to 2015, COO of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations. He was a member of UKAD’s Athletes Committee for 5 years and an ex-officio member of the ECB’s ACCESS Unit dealing with English crickets’ anti-corruption initiative. He designed the first Anti-Corruption education programme for cricket and the online interactive tutorial that is now the model for many sports’ education programmes.

He is currently setting up an integrity function in esports.

Danielle Sharkey, Legal and Compliance Adviser, British Horseracing Authority

Danielle has been with the BHA for 6 years, as part of the Integrity, Legal and Risk Department. She is responsible for managing the regulatory processes and case management cycle from investigation stage through to prosecution stage, enforcing the Rules of Racing through prosecution of breaches by participants and non-participants within the sport. Danielle has presented in front of the BHA’s Disciplinary Panel on many occasions and has acted in some of horseracing’s most high profile corruption and doping cases. When not doing her own advocacy, she regularly acts as first junior supporting senior counsel. As well as being involved in the regulatory function, Danielle provides general commercial legal and data protection advice to the BHA. Danielle is an avid racing fan and fan of sport in general, unashamedly being a West Ham supporter! In her spare time she loves to box so can also pack a punch outside of the courtroom.

Sir Anthony Hooper, Matrix Chambers - Right Honourable Sir Anthony Hooper, a recently retired Lord Justice of Appeal of England and Wales

The Right Honourable Sir Anthony Hooper is a member of Matrix Chambers, a fellow of the Judicial Institute of University College London and Chair of the Expert Witness Institute. After eleven years teaching in English and Canadian law schools, Sir Anthony practiced at the criminal bar in England and Wales. He became a High Court judge in 1994, sitting in the Queen’s Bench Division and in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. From 2004-2012 he was a member of the Court of Appeal.

In 2013 he chaired a Commission set up by Public Concern at Work and produced a wide ranging report on whistleblowing in the workplace (https://www.pcaw.org.uk/whistleblowing-commission).

In 2015, for the General Medical Council, he conducted a review of how the Council handles cases involving individuals who regard themselves as whistleblowers and who have appropriately raised concerns in the public interest, including individuals whose fitness to practise is being investigated or determined (https://www.gmc-uk.org/Hooper_review_final_60267393.pdf).

He has assisted the Post Office to resolve disputes with sub-postmasters who have raised concerns about the reliability of the computer programme used in post offices.

In 2014 Michael Beloff QC, Chair of the Ethics Commission of the IAAF, appointed Sir Anthony to investigate four individuals whose conduct in relation to the Russian marathon runner Lilya Shobukhova was alleged to be in breach of the IAAF Code of Ethics. He finalised the report in August 2015 and the individuals have subsequently been sanctioned by the Ethics Commission. A copy of the decision and his report can be found at https://www.iaafethicscommission.org/ . He has been asked to conduct further investigations relating to Shobukhova and other athletes.

Sir Anthony assists the Stolen Asset Recovery Unit of the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to raise the awareness of judges in East Africa of their powers to preserve and confiscate proceeds of crime and particularly the proceeds of corruption.
In addition to his public work, he assists law firms in the conduct of heavy litigation in England and abroad.

Alex Inglot, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Sportradar

Alex Inglot is the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Sportradar. He joined the company in 2014 and has been tasked with raising awareness and understanding of Sportradar, specifically its Security Services, across sports federations, public authorities, law enforcement and other relevant stakeholders. He is also tasked with representing Sportradar at platforms linked to the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions. In addition, he oversees media relations and issues management from the company’s London office.

Before Sportradar, Alex spent three years at JTA, a consultancy offering communications and international relations support to a whole range of sports organisations such as WADA, Manchester United and Sochi 2014’s Organising Committee. A qualified solicitor, Alex graduated from Oxford University in 2002.

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Media Rights - Current legal issues and challenges of the new technology

Nick De Marco, Barrister Blackstone Chambers (Chairperson)

Nick is rated the leading junior barrister in Sports Law and is a member of Blackstone Chambers.

He has advised and acted for a number of sports governing bodies, athletes, most Premier League football clubs and many world-class football players in commercial and regulatory disputes.

He regularly appears in the UK Courts and football, rugby, cricket, boxing, athletics, horseracing, doping and a number of other arbitral and disciplinary tribunals, including CAS in Switzerland.

He is acknowledged as having special expertise in all aspects of football and has been involved in most of the recent high profile cases in the sport. He has particular expertise in financial regulation including financial fair play, disputes relating to football agents, player disputes and disciplinary issues, doping in football, commercial disputes between clubs and third parties and Third Party Ownership of football players. Chambers directory described him as the “go-to junior on any football regulatory issue”.

Nick has a special interest in sports arbitration. He acted for the ECB in the leading case in the field (ECB v Kaneria) and acts for and against a number of sports regulatory bodies in arbitration disputes as well as siting as an arbitrator for a number of sports. He is also involved in a number of high profile media rights disputes in sport.

Benoit Keane, Principal, Keane Legal

Benoît Keane is a leading European sports lawyer. He regularly represents sports organisations in cases before the European Commission and EU Courts. He has acted in many of the landmark European sports law cases of the last decade concerning both the regulatory and commercial aspects of sport.

Notably, Benoît Keane acted in the first-ever case before the European Court of Justice concerning EU legislation on the broadcasting of major sports events. He also represented a sports organisation in the “Murphy” case regarding the unauthorised broadcasting of FA Premier League matches in bars. Drawing from this experience, he regularly advises upon the application of EU law to commercial practices in sport such as ticketing, licensing and the collective selling of rights. He has also appeared as a Legal Expert before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A native of Ireland, Benoît Keane read law at University College Cork (1998) and then obtained a master’s degree in European law at the College of Europe in Belgium (1999). He qualified as a Solicitor (England & Wales) in 2003 having trained at an international law firm in London and Paris. From 2003 to 2012, he worked at international law firms in Brussels. In 2012, he set up Keane Legal, a boutique practice in Brussels that focuses on European sports law. In 2015, he was listed by Who’s Who Legal as “Most Highly Regarded” for sports.

Chris Anderson, Head of Legal Services, Everton Football Club

Chris joined Everton in March 2014 as Head of Legal Services having previously worked as a specialist sports lawyer and corporate lawyer at a Magic Circle firm. As Head of Legal Services, Chris is responsible for all legal matters at the Club.

Prior to joining Everton, Chris worked as an external legal advisor in football acting for many clubs in the Premier League and Scottish Premier League. He acted upon a wide variety of cases covering matters at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and a number of football transfers, including advising on the world-record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.

In addition to his full-time role at Everton, Chris is a Visiting Lecturer in Sports Law at Liverpool John Moores University and has published many articles on Sports Law.

Bruno Rocha, Executive President, WTA Media

Bruno Rocha is the Executive President for WTA Media, a joint-venture between the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Perform. In this role, he is responsible for WTA’s global media business, developing strategies to deal with the fast changing landscape, structuring and negotiating media agreements.

Prior to his current role, he was a Senior Vice President at Perform in New York, where he oversaw the company’s content distribution businesses in the Americas, managing relationships with rights holders, advertisers and media companies. He joined the company in 2011 and drove the launch of operations in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Prior to Perform, Bruno worked at the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he contributed to a number of business development initiatives in Latin American markets.
He currently lives in London with his wife and son.

Oliver Weingarten, CEO of OWA, and Sports Partnerships for Virtually Live

Oliver Weingarten is currently the Chief Executive Officer of OW Advisory, and since March 2015 has worked with Virtually Live to position them in the sports and broadcasting sectors including securing trials and partnerships with sports organisations.

Oliver trained at Olswang, and is a qualified solicitor with extensive commercial, legal and policy experience. Previously, he was General Secretary of the Formula E Teams’ Association during its inaugural 2014/15 Season, and Secretary General for the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) between 2011 and 2014. FOTA responsibilities including regulating the Teams’ cost control agreement, and coordinating activities on sporting, regulatory and commercial issues.

Prior to that, Oliver had a seven year tenure at the Premier League (2004 – 2011) with responsibility for a breadth of legal, commercial and policy issues including the protection of the League’s broadcasting rights (notably the Murphy and YouTube cases). Whilst at the Premier League, Oliver also formed and undertook the role of Secretariat of the Sports Rights Owners Coalition.

Upon the dissolution of FOTA in 2014, Oliver started his own sports "boutique" agency, offering clients a service on traditional advisory issues (sports intelligence, brokering dealsponsorship/broadcasting/IPR advice), and fan engagement, which have included organising Fans’ Forums in Formula 1, Formula E, and Professional Darts Corporation. Oliver currently represents Rob Young (aka Marathon Man UK) and is also VP of Sports Partnerships for Virtually Live; a live virtual reality broadcast platform for fans unable to attend live events.

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Commercial - Topical issues in sports sponsorship and merchandising

Jason Saiban, Partner, Charles Russell Speechlys (Chairperson)

Jason heads the Commercial Team at Charles Russell Speechlys, which comprises over 30 lawyers. He is a commercial contracts specialist with a focus on the sports, technology, retail and media sectors. Jason has particular expertise in sponsorship, merchandising, marketing and event management.

He leads the firm’s relationship with a number of the firm’s key clients, including Nike and its various subsidiaries, Chime, Westfield, MTC and the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.

Jason is a director and the secretary of the British Association of Sport and Law and a member of its executive committee. He regularly lectures on sponsorship and sports marketing issues. He also the non-executive director of a pharmaceutical company.

Richard Crabb, Senior Legal Counsel, Global Lead: Sponsorship & Communications, HSBC

Richard is a Senior Legal Counsel at HSBC Holdings plc and is the Global Legal Lead for Sponsorship & Communications within HSBC Group Legal. He heads-up the legal team which negotiates and manages HSBC's global sports sponsorship portfolio, which includes some of the world's biggest golf tournaments (such as The Open, WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship) together with the tournament title sponsorship of the HSBC World Rugby 7s. Richard also works closely with some of the world’s leading sports rights and activation agencies, managing not only the rights, but the exploitation of rights across various jurisdictions.

Formerly a partner in the acclaimed sports law firm, McCormicks, Richard spent 6 years acting for a wide range of high-profile sports governing bodies, clubs and individuals, which included the FA Premier League; Leeds United FC; Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the Ryman League. Richard has also acted in defamation matters and contentious sports cases, the highlight of which involved a leading dispute involving an international footballer and his management agency.

Prior to entering the Law, Richard worked as a UK marketing manager for Procter & Gamble where he was schooled in the ways of marketing and sponsorship by the world's biggest marketing company. He now combines his marketing and legal skills, and particular love of football by volunteering on the board at Vanarama National Football Conference North team, Harrogate Town AFC.

Hussein Fahmy, Head of Legal and Commercial, Team Sky

Hussein Fahmy is the Head of Legal and Commercial Affairs at Team Sky. Hussein started out in private practice at Herbert Smith. He moved to Sky to take up the position of Legal Counsel for their Sky Movies, Entertainment and Sky News channels advising principally on programme acquisition and output agreements with a number of UK and US studios. Hussein Joined Sky Sports in 2011. In that role he was responsible for negotiating a broad range of media agreements, with a particular expertise in broadcast rights deals. Hussein worked with a range of rights holders including ECB, European Tour and the PGA, ATP, Formula One Management and NBA. Hussein also worked on the talent / endorsement deals within Sky Sports and managed Team Sky’s legal affairs for its shareholders, Sky and Twenty-First Century Fox. Hussein joined Team Sky full time in 2014 to head up the newly formed Legal and Commercial Affairs function. His responsibilities include negotiating all rider / image rights, sponsorship and other commercial programme agreements and overseeing the Team’s governance and partnerships arrangements

Alex Scudamore, Head of Legal, Chime Group

CSM Sport & Entertainment is the sports and entertainment division of Chime Communications plc. CSM’s largest base is in London but it has a growing global presence; with offices in Abu Dhabi, Auckland, Cape Town, Dubai, Hong Kong, Indianapolis, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. CSM works with leading brands such as HSBC, Land Rover, Johnnie Walker, Verizon, BP and Gazprom – each requiring advice tailored to its individual strategic and brand initiatives.

Alex joined CSM in 2013 and acts as CSM’s Group Legal Counsel in the UK. Alex advises the group on a range of matters, both contentious and non-contentious, balancing commercial practicalities with legal protections. As well as leading on the negotiation of the group’s external contracts, Alex chairs the group’s risk and ethics committees and is responsible for all governance and risk related matters, identifying both internal and external and factors which might pose a threat to both CSM and its clients.

Owing to the wide ranging services offered to CSM’s client base (from strategic consultancy, event delivery, advertising and rights sales, sponsorship activation, hospitality services, overlay and branding to athlete management and ambassador programmes), the legal advice provided to the separate business divisions must be specific to the nature of the services provided.

Prior to joining CSM, Alex worked as a commercial lawyer at city law firm, Macfarlanes. Her practice was largely focused on contractual and IP-related matters, with a variety of corporate and sport-related clients.

Alex has a degree in French and German from Bristol University and is a graduate of London’s BPP Law School.

Sean Corbett, Brand Protection Manager, Formula One®

Sean is an IP practitioner and trade mark attorney for Formula One Management Ltd and is responsible for devising and maintaining the brand protection strategy for the pinnacle of motorsport, F1 racing, and in protecting the IP rights surrounding one of the world’s most popular sporting events and most imitated brands.

As well as looking after and protecting a global portfolio of trade marks Sean has extensive experience of managing litigation in key territories adopting a commercially smart and pragmatic approach to resolving conflicts.

Sean previously worked in private practice at a niche boutique firm specialising in trade marks. After leaving law school Sean combined an interest in all areas of IP with his love of writing by working as an IP and Media editor at Lawtel, creating and editing a weekly IP bulletin for IP professionals harnessing his ability to explain complicated issues clearly and concisely.

Away from work Sean is a keen snow boarder where he practices the art of falling down a mountain with style at every opportunity. A lifelong QPR fan and keen golfer Sean loves sport with a passion and still harbours dreams of a call-up as scrum half for Ireland and qualifying for the Open.

James Massing, International Sponsorship, National Football League

With a primary focus on the UK market, which has experienced explosive growth over the past eight years, James is part of the National Football League’s international sponsorship team, responsible for driving year-on-year growth of a multi-million $ portfolio of blue-chip brands and organizations in line with the NFL’s international expansion.

Last year the NFL made significant announcements of multiple-stadia deals, Wembley, Twickenham and Tottenham Hotspur, and a minimum of four regular season games starting in 2018, demonstrating its continued long-term commitment to the market. Other key international markets include Germany, Canada, Mexico, and China.

Prior to joining the NFL, James successfully managed off-the-field marketing and endorsement deals for top-level sports personalities, advising on and structuring world-leading two-way partnerships. He has also worked across award winning sports marketing campaigns, including Budweiser’s sponsorship of The FA Cup, The FA’s 150thAnniversary and Dove Men+Care’s sponsorship of the (rugby) International Series.

James also co-founded Victoria Pendleton Active Girls Camps working in partnership with The Youth Sport Trust and Loughborough University. These camps were held throughout summer 2015, at multiple venues across the UK, with the aim of inspiring young females to get involved in sport as well as motivate them to act as role models.

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