News

On the occasion of the visit of a delegation from the Finnish Association of Sports Law, the Swiss Association of Sports Law (ASDS) will have the pleasure to give the floor to Mr Pierre Ketterer, Regulatory & Governance Director of the FIA, who will present the functioning of the jurisdictional bodies of the FIA as well as the F1 Financial Regulations.

Attendance is free of charge, but open exclusively to members of the ASDS. To become a member of the ASDS member: https://www.asds.ch/fr/beitritsgesuch. Thereafter, contact Mr Ibarrola (ibarrola@libra-law.ch).

With the support of Libra Law, Olympic champion Dmitry Ilinikh has reached an agreement with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) following disciplinary proceedings initiated against him for an anti-doping violation.

Another FIFA mediation resulting in a full agreement between the parties, to the great satisfaction of Mr Jorge Ibarrola

Mr Jorge Ibarrola, Mr Claude Ramoni and Yvan Henzer recognised by their peers and by Who's Who Legal, notably in the category "World's Leading Practitioners in the Who's Who Legal Thought Leaders: Sports & Gaming 2023 report".

https://www.lexology.com/firms/1231406/jorge_ibarrola

https://www.lexology.com/firms/1231406/claude_ramoni

https://www.lexology.com/firms/1231406/yvan_henzer

Mr Jorge Ibarrola has been awarded the title of FSA Mediator after completing the first comprehensive mediation training course set up by the Swiss Bar Association (SBA). He wrote his thesis on the role of the mediator compared to the role of the conciliator and the judge or arbitrator, using examples from the sports industry.

Mr Jorge Ibarrola lectures within the Masters in Sports Law organised in Spanish language by the Instituto Superior en Derecho y Economía (ISDE), on the topic of the proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

Mr Jorge Ibarrola gives a lecture within the framework of the Master 2 professional course in sports law at the Faculty of Law, University of Aix-Marseille.

Yvan Henzer gives a lecture on evidence as part of a conference organised by the University of Neuchâtel on the subject of "Fundamental concepts of compensation: convergence and divergence".

This lecture is published in a book edited by Professors Anne-Sylvie Dupont and Christoph Müller

Mr Jorge Ibarrola sits as arbitrator at the final stage of the Sports Arbitration Moot in Madrid.

Jorge Ibarrola is invited to the Webminar organised by LawInsport on the topic "Mediating Football Disputes: the new FIFA Mediation Guidelines".

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jorgeibarrola_looking-forward-activity-7046762360455192577-zXLo/?originalSubdomain=ch 

Mr Jorge Ibarrola is invited to lecture at the sports mediation programme organised by the Instituto de Mediación Deportiva (IEMEDEP, Madrid).

Mr Jorge Ibarrola is invited to speak in an online conversation on sports law, organised by the Sports Law Institute

https://www.fifa.com/legal/football-tribunal/news/fifa-publishes-mediation-guidelines

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7039946128385048576/

FIFA outlines  “Jorge Ibarrola, also a FIFA Mediator, added: “Congratulations to FIFA for the implementation of the mediation process available to all the members of the football family. The FIFA mediation guidelines will enable the parties not only to settle their disputes swiftly, efficiently and at no cost, but also to reach settlement agreements that may go beyond the mere resolution of their dispute, restoring, in particular, the communication between them and facilitating their future relationships. This will undoubtedly provide a significantly high level of satisfaction with respect to the achieved outcome.”

Mr Jorge Ibarrola lectures at the Master's programme in international sports law of the Instituto Superior en Derecho y Economía (ISDE), on the topic of the Lex Sportiva.

FIFA ratifies the integral agreement of the parties to a mediation procedure led by Mr Jorge Ibarrola.

Two Libra law partners, Jorge Ibarrola and Claude Ramoni, ranked in the sports category by Chambers and Partners Europe

https://chambers.com/law-firm/libra-law-europe-7:22931043 

Watch here the interview Mr Yvan Henzer gave to the channel La Télé when he became Chairman of the Fonds du Sport vaudois

In a recent decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal (TF 4A_254/2023 of 12 June 2023), which will be published shortly, the judges were asked to rule on the misadventure of a party who had used the electronic platform of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to upload its statement of appeal and exhibits.

Due to alleged technical difficulties, the briefs were sent by e-mail but not uploaded to the CAS electronic platform. The party only realised its mistake after the appeal deadline had passed. CAS then issued a closure order for the late filing of the appeal. (more…)

The whole firm warmly congratulates Yvan Henzer on his nomination by the State Council as President of "Fonds du Sport Vaudois" for a five-year term (2023-2027). This foundation's mission is to redistribute the profits of the lottery to local sports stakeholders and athletes.

Yvan will continue his activities as a lawyer within the firm, his new position as President of the Fonds du Sport Vaudois being a part-time mandate.

On the occasion of the 13th CEMAJ Conference on New Developments in International Commercial Arbitration 2022 that took place at the University of Neuchâtel on 11 November 2022, Claude Ramoni was given the opportunity to talk about jurisdictional issues of CAS Arbitration on the occasion of the Olympic Games.

Claude Ramoni’s contribution focused on the extent of the competence of the different CAS Divisions dealing with Olympic disputes. He also analysed certain practical issues arising in respect to Olympic disputes submitted to the CAS. Claude Ramoni’s article, together with the very interesting contributions of all speakers to the conference have been published in the form of a book edited by University of Neuchâtel.

Libra Law is very grateful to Prof. Mueller, Rigozzi and Besson for having been given the chance to make a contribution on this truly interesting topic, which has given - and will surely - give rise to numerous disputes on the occasion of each edition of the Olympic Games.

Mr Jorge Ibarrola, member of the Committee of the Swiss Association of Sports Law (ASDS), will have the pleasure to give the floor to Professor Jacques de Werra, Director of the Digital Law Center of the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva, who will come to present a subject on which he has recently written, namely sports and intellectual property.

If you wish to attend this event, please register via the following Doodle link: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/boQ9E4Xe

Attendance is free, but open exclusively to ASDS members. To become a member of the ASDS: https://www.asds.ch/demande-d-adhesion. Then contact Me Ibarrola (ibarrola@libra-law.ch).

Libra Law’s Cocktail for CAS Seminar Participants.

Please read the full invitation here

SAVE THE DATE: 5 to 7 conference organised by the Sports Law Commission of the Vaud Bar Association on 17 October 2022 at the Lausanne Palace. Mr Rémy Wyler and Mr Miguel Liétard will address the issue of the breach and/or termination of a football player contracts with a comparison of the consequences under Swiss employment law and sports law.

More details will follow. This conference is reserved to the Vaud Bar Association members

The 10^th edition of the Sports Law Days will take place on 6 and 7 October 2022 in Macolin/Magglingen (Switzerland).

Please consult the full programme here

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

You can download the award here (in French).

You can download Libra Law’s analysis of the award here (in English) or here (in Spanish) or here in French

Jorge Ibarrola, Claude Ramoni and Yvan Henzer are delighted to announce that Ms Monia Karmass has been promoted as Libra Law partner as of 1 January 2021.

Ms Monia Karmass is a Swiss qualified lawyer, specialising in sports and commercial law, as well as in litigation before sports legal bodies (FIFA, UEFA, WADA, IOC, etc.), the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss ordinary courts, including the Swiss Federal Tribunal. She provides sophisticated advice to Swiss and international clients in a wide range of legal matters related to sport, including disciplinary, contractual and governance matters, as well as to commercial litigation, employment law and economic criminal matters.

Libra Law now consists of four partners, namely Ms Monia Karmass, Mr Jorge Ibarrola, Mr Claude Ramoni and Mr Yvan Henzer, plus associates and trainee lawyers.

Jorge, Claude and Yvan say: “Monia has proven to be an outstanding legal counsel since she joined Libra Law. Becoming our partner is not only a pride for us, but also significantly strengthens our firm and will allow us to improve and increase the scope of our services to our clients in Switzerland and worldwide.”

By decisions issued in November and December 2017, the IOC imposed lifetime bans on three Russian biathletes, medallists at the Winter Olympic Games Sochi 2014. Libra Law successfully represented the three biathletes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The arbitration panel ruled that two athletes did not commit any anti-doping rule violations. Accordingly, they can keep their individual results, notably a silver medal. With respect to the third athlete, the arbitration panel confirmed that she was guilty, but reduced the sanction imposed on her. The athlete contemplate submitting an appeal before the Swiss Federal Tribunal. For more information:

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1098790/cas-overturns-biathletes-life-bans

https://libra-law.ch/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CAS_Media_Release_5434_5435_5444.pdf

Congratulations to the Turkish Football Federation for this success before the Swiss Federal Tribunal. This is our 3rd win in a row, after FIFA, the CAS and now STF. Next stage: ECHR? Interesting reasoning of the STF regarding public hearings at CAS and excellent synthesis of the standing to appeal pursuant to the CAS Jurisprudence. A free translation in English is available here.

https://www.bger.ch/ext/eurospider/live/fr/php/aza/http/index.php?highlight_docid=aza%3A%2F%2Faza://17-08-2020-4A_486-2019&lang=fr&zoom=&type=show_document

Libra Law congratulates its founding partner, Claude Ramoni, for his election to the UEFA Appeals Body.

Click here to learn more.

Claude Ramoni is ranked again in Who’s Who Legal 2020 as  Thought leader – National Leader - Sports and Entertainement – Switzerland

You can consult his biography here: https://whoswholegal.com/claude-ramoni

Libra Law is proud to be ranked in the Top 10 (ranking Bilanz-Le Temps 2020) best practices in sports law in Switzerland.

The rankings are available here.

Jorge Ibarrola is ranked again in Who’s Who Legal 2019 as Thought Leaders Global Elite 2019 – Sports and Thought Leaders – Switzerland.

You can consult his biography here: https://whoswholegal.com/jorge-ibarrola

Libra Law congratulates Yvan Henzer on his election to the Board of Trustees of the AVENA Pension Fund for the 2020-2023 term.

Click here to learn more.

AUGUST 2019 : The next ASDS Sports Law evening will take place on 27 August 2019 at 6.30pm at the Maison du Sport International.

Mr Jorge Ibarrola will have the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Pierre Muller, arbitrator, conciliator and CEDR Accredited Mediator, former Judge of the Canton Tribunal of Canton de Vaud, Switzerland, to speak about: “Conciliation and mediation to resolve sports disputes: opportunities”.

If you wish to attend this evening, please register via doodle: https://doodle.com/poll/4hy3s8qix2483muy

The participation is free, but only open to ASDS members. To become a member of ASDS: https://www.asds.ch/demande-d-adhesion and then contact Mr Ibarrola (ibarrola@libra-law.ch).

JULY 2019: Libra Law congratulates Jorge Ibarrola for his accreditation as CEDR Mediator. We all look forward to further develop the area of mediation both in commercial and in sports areas.

JANUARY 2019 : Claude Ramoni lectures on the World Anti-Doping Code within the framework of the International Master in Sports Law of the Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid

JANUARY 2019 : Claude Ramoni takes part in a round-table discussion : The defence of the athlete who challenges his offence : intentionality and proof of absence of offence

NOVEMBER 2018 : Jorge Ibarrola moderates a panel on “New developments in anti-doping : International Testing Agency and CAS as first instance for anti-doping disputes”.

NOVEMBER 2018 : Jorge Ibarrola lectures on “Selected Recent Procedural Issues Arising in CAS Arbitral Proceedings”.

Jorge Ibarrola & Claude Ramoni are recognised as leaders in sports law by their peers in the 2018 edition of WWL

Jorge Ibarrola at LIBRA LAW is “a top lawyer” highlighted for his excellent experience representing clients including sports federations, athletes and football clubs, in both arbitration and litigation proceedings.

Claude Ramoni is well versed in advising sports federations and athletes on a wide array of sports-related issues, and is considered particularly impressive when it comes to doping matters.

The next ASDS Sports Law evening will take place on 19 December 2018 at 6.30pm at the Maison du Sport International.

Mr Jorge Ibarrola will have the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Jean-Philippe Dubey, Head of the Scientific Department of the CAS and member of the ASDS Committee. Mr Dubey will discuss the decision rendered on 29 August 2018 by the Court of Appeal in Brussels concerning the arbitration clause in the FIFA Statues, in addition to the judgement of 2 October 2018 of the European Court of Human Rights in the Mutu and Pechstein cases. This will be followed by an open discussion between Mr Dubey and the participants.

If you wish to attend this evening, please register via doodle: https://doodle.com/poll/ey4grav99efyqrk4

Participation is free, but only open to ASDS members. To become a member of ASDS: https://www.asds.ch/demande-d-adhesion and contact Mr Ibarrola (ibarrola@libra-law.ch).

Yvan Henzer has been appointed by the State Council on the board of the "Fonds du Sport Vaudois", a foundation supporting top-level athletes and funding sport projects with the benefits of the lottery

Jorge Ibarrola on the Swiss national radio station regarding football players who evade the tax authorities. The show is available on the following link

Jorge Ibarrola on the Swiss national radio explaining the CAS award concerning the Russian athletes. The show is available on the following link

Mr Jorge Ibarrola had the honour to welcome Mr Bernard Welten, CAS Arbitrator and lawyer from Bern as guest speaker on the subject of the CAS Ad Hoc Chamber in PyeongChang as part of the ASDS Sports Law evenings. Mr Welten described the roles of the AD Hoc Chamber of the CAS during the Olympic Games, using decisions taken by the Chamber to illustrate his presentation, particularly those relating to the Russian athletes.

The next Sports Law evening is likely to take place in June 2018.

Participation is free but open only to ASDS members. To become a member of ASDS:.

https://www.asds.ch/demande-d-adhesion contact Mr Ibarrola (ibarrola@libra-law.ch).