What is a sports lawyer?
In short, a sports lawyer is a lawyer who represents athletes, sports clubs, sports associations and other stakeholders within the sports industry. A sports lawyer will handle a wide range of issues that influence the rights and obligations of the stakeholders involved in sports.
A sports lawyer may either work in-house, for example in a football club or in a sports association, or in an independent law firm.
What does a sports lawyer do?
Sports law consists of a variety of legal fields, such as contract law, labour law, media law and organizational law. Common for these legal fields is that they apply to athletes, sports clubs, associations and other stakeholders that operate within the world of sport. A sports lawyer would need knowledge about all the legal fields that are a part of sports law, and in addition knowledge about the sports regulations that are specific for sports.
Labour law is one of the legal fields that has a great impact on sports law, and employments within sports show how a sports lawyer must have knowledge about labour law as well as sports regulations. When an athlete, for example a football player, is employed by a football club, the parties’ rights and obligations will be regulated partly by domestic labour law, and partly by domestic and international football regulations. More specifically, FIFA has established a set of regulations that govern footballers and football clubs’ rights and obligations whenever a footballer is under a professional contract, and the national football association will normally have its own set of regulations, that largely is based on the FIFA regulations. However, domestic labour law may also determine the scope of the parties’ rights and obligations, for example if domestic labour law has provisions that entitles employees’ minimum wage.
Tasks handled by a sports lawyer
Although the tasks of a sports lawyer may vary, a sports lawyer will normally be able to handle the following types of cases:
Sports related disciplinary cases
A sports lawyer could represent athletes, clubs and associations in national and international disciplinary cases, such as on-field incidents and alleged breaches of sports regulations and disciplinary regulations. The sports regulations, may be complicated, and a sports lawyer will ensure that its clients are given a best possible defence when charged with accusations of having breached these sports regulations.
Litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution
In the past 30 years financial revenue from sport has rocketed, which has led to a large increase in sports related disputes. Whenever sports clubs, athletes, managers, agents/intermediaries and other stakeholders within sports are involved in a dispute, it will be up to the sports lawyer to represent its clients in litigation, arbitration and other dispute resolution processes. The sports regulations require good knowledge of the dispute resolution mechanism within sports when a sports lawyer handles disputes.
Claim handling
Sports clubs, athletes and others will from time to time not receive all they are entitled to. For example, a football club may be entitled to large amounts as training compensation or solidarity contribution, or a player is not being paid his wages. Often, sports organisations have established judicial bodies that are competent to handle such claims. A sports lawyer has the necessary expertise to successfully represent its clients in these processes.
Sponsorship agreements and marketing rights
A sports lawyer will support his clients when drafting and concluding sponsorship agreements and marketing rights agreements, which allows a company to profit from the fame, publicity and reputation of either an individual famous athlete or a sports club or national association. In return the company will normally provide a financial remuneration and other benefits. A sports lawyer will draft and conclude such agreements, taking into consideration the specific needs for the involved parties.
Governance and regulatory projects
A sports lawyer may assist sports associations and clubs when establishing regulatory frameworks that apply to these organisations’ members, such as statutes, transfer regulations and disciplinary regulations. In this process due consideration must be taken to secure ethical and democratic standards as well as independence to panels and committees.
Media and broadcasting rights
In short, sports organisations that organize sports events, such as when IOC arrange the Olympic Games, UEFA arrange Champions League or the FA arranges the FA Cup the organiser is entitled to the rights connected with the sports event. If a TV company is interested in broadcasting these events, they may only do so with the consent of the organiser, which they typically will get if they are successful in their bid whenever the organiser decides to arrange such a bid. In recent years revenue from media and broadcasting rights have rocketed. A sports lawyer may assist its clients, normally either the party that organises the sport event or a broadcasting company, in these processes to ensure that its clients’ interests are taken into consideration when drafting the legal framework that establish the parties’ rights and obligations.
About Espen Auberg
Espen Auberg is an experienced sports lawyer and head of sports law at Nova Law. Since 2011 Auberg has worked exclusively with sports law. Auberg is one of four Norwegian arbitrators at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and is a member of UEFA's Legal Committee. Auberg is also chairman of the board of the Norwegian Sports Law Association, which provides services for Norwegian sports lawyers. Auberg is also certified as mediator by the Norwegian Bar Association, and offers mediation in sports related disputes.
Auberg has been a member of the Norwegian Bar since 2006 and joined the Norwegian Football Association as legal director and sports lawyer in 2011. Since 2021 he is a partner at Nova Law.
As a sports lawyer, Auberg takes pride in providing swift and personal services for his clients, which include sports associations, leagues, athletes, coaches/managers, football agents, sports directors, sports clubs, sponsors and media houses.
Please feel free to contact Espen Auberg by filling in the contact form, or by phone/Whatsapp, (+47) 99706000 or email, ea@novalaw.no.