News archive 2022

Dr Heiner Kahlert and David Menz contributed to the book “Sporting Succession in Football” by J. Cambreleng Contreras/S. Samarth/ J.F. Vandellós Alamilla. In the chapter on sporting succession in basketball, the authors analyse the requirements for the extension of sanctions imposed on debtors of a BAT award to their “sporting successor” in accordance with the internal regulations of the international basketball federation (FIBA) with a particular focus on the CAS jurisprudence that has been issued in this context over the last years.

We are pleased to announce that David Menz and Maximilian Wegge have been promoted to Salary Partner and Senior Associate respectively. The entire team of Martens Lawyers extends their warmest congratulations to David and Maximilian on their well-deserved promotions, and wishes them both the very best in their new roles. With this line-up, we look forward with utmost confidence to the future of our law firm!

After our compensation payment to atmosfair on 27 December 2021, we have now also compensated our CO2 emissions for the first half of 2022. As usual, we calculated our CO2 emissions from May 2021 to May 2022 with the help of a CO2 calculator (35,000 kg) and determined the total amount required for compensation (EUR 800). We then rounded up this amount to a total of EUR 1,000 and donated the money to atmosfair. You can find the donation certificates here.

Dr Heiner Kahlert and Maximilian Wegge  have contributed to the chapter on dispute resolution in Germany on the online platform "Lexology" The report will be part of the tool "Getting The Deal Through", which shall provide in-house lawyers with answers to the most important legal and regulatory questions that may arise in business transactions and legal disputes in Germany. The report focuses on the topics of court proceedings, arbitration proceedings as well as alternative dispute resolution. We are pleased to be in charge of submitting further contributions to the chapter on dispute resolution for at least two more years. For the report, which is published once a year, please click here. (Reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd. This article was first published in Lexology GTDT – Dispute Resolution 2022. For further information, please click here.)

The main German business weekly Wirtschaftswoche (WiWO) has included Martens Rechtsanwälte in its newly created list of "WiWo Top Law Firms – The Most Renowned Law Firms and Lawyers for Sports Law". Moreover, Dr Heiner Kahlert is listed as a highly recommended sports lawyer. Both listings are based on a survey conducted by an independent jury of the Handelsblatt Research Institute among 460 sports lawyers from 315 law firms. For the list as published on WiWo.de in German, please click here.

A few days ago, Heiner Kahlert was admitted to the list of arbitrators of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. In addition to his experience in commercial and investment arbitration, Heiner also has more than a decade of experience from numerous CAS arbitrations, first as an ad-hoc clerk to CAS tribunals and then as counsel representing parties before the CAS. In moving into the arbitrator role, Heiner follows the example set by the founder of our law firm, the late Dr Dirk-Reiner Martens, who was already on the CAS arbitrator list when the CAS was founded and who was subsequently appointed in nearly 200 CAS proceedings, including at four Olympic Games.

David Menz and Dr Tinusch Jalilvand have published an article in the German sports law journal SpoPrax regarding the importance of the „legitimate interest“ according to Article 6 para 1 lit. f GDPR in the context of processing sports data. In their article, the authors focus in particular on the requirements for a lawful processing of so called “primary sports data” by different stakeholders in sport, considering recent developments around the “Project Red Card” in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the authors analyse the requirements and consequences of a potential licensing of the processing of primary sports data. The article is published in edition 2/2022 of the SpoPrax at page 60 et. seq.

Dr Tinusch Jalilvand organised together with Univ Prof Dr Helmuth Grothe a seminar regarding “Recent legal challenges in professional football” at the Free University of Berlin on 20 January 2022. The students had the opportunity to draft a thesis on recent legal developments in professional football such as non-playing-clauses or freedom of expression in professional football and to discuss their research with experts, working in the field of professional football. Beside Dr Tinusch Jalilvand, in-house lawyers from Bundesliga clubs VFL Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen, the football platform OneFootball as well as the German Football Federation (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) participated in the seminar. This way, students received the rare chance to get into a high level exchange with experienced professionals and learn about different career paths in sports law.

As in the previous two years, our law firm has again supported the fabulous work of the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation by way of a donation at the end of 2021. The foundation was created by the former NBA superstar and German national basketball team player Dirk Nowitzki. For many years now, it has helped kids and adolescents to recognise and develop their potential through sport and also outside sport. This type of social commitment is particularly close to our hearts and we are pleased that we were once again able to make a financial contribution to it.

The public prosecutor’s office of Potsdam has decided to end the criminal investigations against our client Ms Annika Schleu for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act during the Olympic Games in Tokyo in August 2021 pursuant to section 153a of the German Code of Criminal Procedure today. Ms Schleu will pay a small amount to a non-profit organisation, after which the criminal investigation will finally be over. After the end of the proceedings, Ms Schleu can now fully dedicate herself to her sport again, which has always included the loving care with horses.

On 1 January 2022, the new version of the BAT Arbitration Rules came into effect. The new rules include an adjustment of the amount to be paid as handling fee for a BAT arbitration and provide an additional purpose for the use of monies from the "BAT Fund". The new version of the BAT Arbitration Rules and an explanation of the most relevant amendments are available here.

Dr Heiner Kahlert and David Menz published a report on the development of sports law in 2021 in the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW), the legal journal with the highest circulation in Germany.

For 2022 and, thus, the fourth time in a row, the renowned international legal directory Who’s Who Legal has listed Dr Heiner Kahlert as a “Future Leader” in arbitration. The listing is based on independent research, in particular surveys amongst clients and peers. The repeat listing highlights the special expertise of Heiner Kahlert in national and international arbitration proceedings, in which he acts both as counsel and as arbitrator.

At the General Assembly of the German Institute for Arbitration (DIS) held last Friday, Dr Heiner Kahlert was elected into the DIS Advisory Council, which provides advice to the DIS Board of Directors. The Advisory Council comprises 21 members from different organisations and professions having a special interest in arbitration.