Dr Heiner Kahlert elected to IIHF Ethics Board
At the IIHF’s Congress held last weekend, Dr Heiner Kahlert was elected to the newly created Ethics Board of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)
The Ethics Board is an independent body consisting of five equal members. In particular, it is responsible for investigating into alleged violations of the IIHF’s Code of Conduct. If the Ethics Board considers that a violation has occurred, it refers the matter to the Directorium or Disciplinary Board of the IIHF for a decision on displinary sanctions.
Article by Dr. Heiner Kahlert on athletes’ freedom of speech
Together with our former trainee lawyer Dr. Marie-Christin Bareuther, Dr. Heiner Kahlert has published an article in Germany’s most-read legal journal (NJW) on athletes’ freedom of speech during sports event. The article reports in particular on the IOC’s new guidelines that were adopted shortly before the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Compared to previous practice, the guidelines widen the scope of admissible political statements during the Olympic Games and increase to some extent legal security in respect of sanctions for any violations. In addition, the authors argue for a harmonized approach across different sports. The article was published on page 5 of NJW edition 23/2021.
Dr Heiner Kahlert appointed as member of AIBA’s Governance Reform Group
The International Boxing Association AIBA has appointed Dr Heiner Kahlert of Martens Lawyers as one of five international legal experts to sit on the newly created Governance Reform Group. The task of this independent body, which will be chaired by Professor Dr Ulrich Haas, will be to issue recommendations based on internationally accepted best practices in order to assist AIBA in meeting the highest standards of good governance.
For AIBA’s corresponding press release, please click here.
New sports law organisation „Junges Netzwerk Sportrecht“
Dr. Heiner Kahlert and David Menz, together with Alexander Engelhardt and Niklas Luft, have established the sports law organisation "Junges Netzwerk Sportrecht". The organisation offers young lawyers from German-speaking countries, who have an interest in sports law, a forum for the exchange of ideas and additional legal training for . For further information on this organisation, including membership, please click here.
The first online event (German language) with the topic "Athletes' Rights in 2021" will take place on May 7, 2021, starting at 17:00. More information on the registration and the programme is available here.
If you are interested and for future events and news of the Junge Netzwerk Sportrecht, you can also join the Linkedin group.
If you are interested and for future events and news of the Junge Netzwerk Sportrecht, you can also join the Linkedin group.
Martens Lawyers holds Webinar on Quotient Rule
David Menz and Maximilian Wegge held a webinar with the topic "Quotient rule in amateur football- fair and just?" on 21 April 2021. The webinar provided information on the current situation in amateur football due to the Covid-19 pandemic and analysed the problems of determining the relegated teams of a cancelled season by applying a quota system.
Our CO2 Compensation for the Second Half of 2020
After our compensation payment to atmosfair on 02.06.2020, we have now also compensated our CO2 emissions in the amount of 21,740 kg for the second half of 2020.
Due to the Covid19 situation, the carbon footprint of our law firm has been significantly reduce. In particular, business trips have become much rarer and, due to working from home, we have saved on commuting between the office and our homes. The carbon dioxide emissions nonetheless caused by our firm in the second half of 2020 have now been compensated by us. It bears noting that in doing so, we have added a generous supplement on the amount calculated for our office premises, in order to account for the increased energy consumption in our homes due to our home office arrangements.
Once again, we paid the compensatory amount to atmosfair and, according to the certificate issued, 21,740 kg of CO2 greenhouse gases have been compensated.
Dr Heiner Kahlert included in Who’s Who Legal Sports & Entertainment
Dr Kahlert has been included in Who’s Who Legal (WWL) as a National Leader for Germany in Sports & Entertainment 2021. According to WWL’s survey amongst peers and clients, “Heiner Kahlert comes in for high praise thanks to his outstanding knowledge of sports law and his work advising and representing clients in complex contentious proceedings.”
In addition, just as in the previous two years, Dr Kahlert will also feature in WWL’s listing of Future Leaders Arbitration 2021, which will be published shortly.
FIBA establishes the Dr Dirk-Reiner Martens Award
At its session of 6 November 2020, the FIBA Central Board approved the establishment of the Dr Dirk-Reiner Martens Award.
The Award will be presented every two years to an individual who has made a significant academic contribution in the area of basketball-related legal matters and/or the resolution of international sports disputes. The award reflects Dr Martens' commitment to constantly improve the sports regulatory framework and to support young sports lawyers.
Almost coinciding with the first anniversary of his sudden passing, the creation of this Award is a wonderful recognition of Dr Martens’ legacy in the areas of sports law and dispute resolution. Martens Rechtsanwälte extends its heartfelt gratitude to FIBA.
The Award will be presented every two years to an individual who has made a significant academic contribution in the area of basketball-related legal matters and/or the resolution of international sports disputes. The award reflects Dr Martens' commitment to constantly improve the sports regulatory framework and to support young sports lawyers.
Almost coinciding with the first anniversary of his sudden passing, the creation of this Award is a wonderful recognition of Dr Martens’ legacy in the areas of sports law and dispute resolution. Martens Rechtsanwälte extends its heartfelt gratitude to FIBA.
David Menz participated as speaker in the “FIFA Executive Programme in Sports Arbitration”
David Menz gave a presentation on the BAT as part of the course "Executive Programme in Sports Arbitration" organised for the first time by FIFA. This course is aimed at executives from the world of sports and is designed to familiarise them with the specifics of arbitration in sports through various lectures by recognised experts in this field.
Martens Rechtsanwälte successfully represents Türkgücü against BFV and DFB
Today, the Munich District Court ruled largely in favour of our client Türkgücü München in the proceedings against the Bavarian Football Association e.V. (BFV) and the German Football Association (DFB). The decision (ref. no.: 37 O 11770/20) shows in particular that, despite the undisputed autonomy of associations, interim measures aimed at participation in a sports competition may exceptionally be granted.
The BFV must now revoke its nomination of FC Schweinfurt 05 for the German Cup and decide afresh on the nomination, taking into account however the legal opinion of the court.
As a consequence, the BFV now has two options: Either it nominates Türkgücü München or it changes its regulations on the nomination within a very short period of time – this time, however, without exceeding its margin of discretion.
For the (German language) press release of the Local Court of Munich, please click here.
As a consequence, the BFV now has two options: Either it nominates Türkgücü München or it changes its regulations on the nomination within a very short period of time – this time, however, without exceeding its margin of discretion.
For the (German language) press release of the Local Court of Munich, please click here.
David Menz published an article in the conference proceeding “eSport Law – Politics, Practice and Science in Dialogue”
Together with Dr Paul Fischer, David Menz has written an essay on the question of the "Implementation of the organisational structures of competitive sports in eSport" for the conference proceeding "eSport Law - Politics, Practice and Science in Dialogue" of the Research Centre for eSport Law (FeSR). The essay deals with the interesting question of whether the organisational structures existing in the traditional sports world can be transferred to the eSport sector.
The conference book can be purchased here.
David Menz and Maximilian Wegge achieved a great victory for Türkgücü Munich before the Munich District Court
The nomination of FC Schweinfurt 05 for the German Cup 2020/2021 has to be revoked for the time being. Instead, the Bavarian Football Association has to nominate Türkgücü Munich preliminarily.
Türkgücü Munich has well deserved the participation in the German Cup due to its outstanding performance in the 2019/2020 season. Now it is up to both the Bavarian and the German Football Association to make our client's participation possible.
For the German news text on the website of Türkgücü Munich, please click here.
David Menz will attend as speaker the ARD Online/AIAC webinar “Employment and Contractual Issues in Sport: Recent Developments Post Covid-19”
David Menz and the other participants of the panel, Henry Goldschmidt (Morgan Sports Law), Nick de Marco QC (Blackstone Chambers) and Aahna Mehrotra (TNT Law Practice), will discuss and share their experiences in the light of the latest developments in labour and contractual matters in sports law since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the flyer of the webinar, please click here.
For the flyer of the webinar, please click here.
Our contribution to climate protection
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. This challenge can only be mastered if companies act sustainably. This requires, in particular, that CO2 emissions be reduced to a minimum and unavoidable emissions be compensated for in climate protection projects.
Martens Rechtsanwälte takes this social responsibility very seriously. Long before the COVID-19 crisis, we were already trying to reduce travelling and paper consumption as much as possible, in particular by using electronic file management and modern means of communication as far as possible.
Martens Rechtsanwälte takes this social responsibility very seriously. Long before the COVID-19 crisis, we were already trying to reduce travelling and paper consumption as much as possible, in particular by using electronic file management and modern means of communication as far as possible.
A good example for this is the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal, which we developed and have been administering since 2007 and which can be considered a pioneer in international arbitration regarding sustainable conduct of proceedings. Communication in proceedings has always taken place almost exclusively by electronic means, which has not only saved large amounts of paper in almost 1600 proceedings thus far, but has also prevented many trips due to numerous telephone and video conferences instead of personal meetings.
Furthermore, we have always endeavoured to replace travelling by plane and car with travelling by train as far as possible.
In order to contribute even more to climate protection in the future, we decided at the beginning of this year to compensate for all CO2 emissions that are caused by our business operations. This not only takes into account business trips, but also the energy consumption required for our office premises, the travel to and from work of our individual employees, catering, working materials and any waste created. The CO2 value calculated from these factors is compensated by a payment to climate protection projects. For the year 2020, we recently made a corresponding payment to atmosfair. Atmosfair has received many awards for sustainable CO2 compensation projects (Atmosfair Test and Comparative Studies).
According to the certificate issued by atmosfair, 24,130 kg of CO2 greenhouse gases have been compensated by our payment. Business trips to be undertaken in the second half of 2020, along with any other unforeseen emissions, will be compensated separately at the end of this year.
Furthermore, we have always endeavoured to replace travelling by plane and car with travelling by train as far as possible.
In order to contribute even more to climate protection in the future, we decided at the beginning of this year to compensate for all CO2 emissions that are caused by our business operations. This not only takes into account business trips, but also the energy consumption required for our office premises, the travel to and from work of our individual employees, catering, working materials and any waste created. The CO2 value calculated from these factors is compensated by a payment to climate protection projects. For the year 2020, we recently made a corresponding payment to atmosfair. Atmosfair has received many awards for sustainable CO2 compensation projects (Atmosfair Test and Comparative Studies).
According to the certificate issued by atmosfair, 24,130 kg of CO2 greenhouse gases have been compensated by our payment. Business trips to be undertaken in the second half of 2020, along with any other unforeseen emissions, will be compensated separately at the end of this year.
