Support for the Nowitzki Foundation
As in the previous years, our law firm has again supported the fabulous work of the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation by way of a donation at the end of 2023.
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.
NJW Report on the Development of Sports Law in 2023
David Menz und Dr. Heiner Kahlert published a report on the development of sports law in 2023 in the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW – 46/2023 edition, p. 3337 et seq.). The report picks up where the report for 2022 (NJW – 46/2022 edition, pp. 3334 et seq.) left off and provides an overview of relevant decisions from various legal fields affected by sports law.
David Menz and Paul Fischer publish contributions in the KeywordCommentary “eSports Law”
David Menz and Paul Fischer were allowed to contribute the following keywords for the first keyword commentary on eSports law:
- Arbitration in eSports (David Menz with co-author Alexander Engelhard)
- Sports associations in general (Paul Fischer)
- Associations in general (Paul Fischer with co-authors Tim Bagger von Grafenstein and Tobias Scholz)
- Jurisdiction of Associations (Paul Fischer)
- Constitution (Paul Fischer)
In their respective contributions, David Menz and Paul Fischer look at eSports from the perspective of traditional sports. The focus is on how eSport can best benefit from the experiences of traditional sport in the respective areas.
The StichwortKommentar "eSport-Recht" is the first port of call for legal advice on eSports law, but especially for those involved in the eSports scene itself - be they game manufacturers, publishers and eSports players, teams and clans, organisers, sponsors, associations or investors. To purchase the keyword commentary (in German), please click here.
Dr Heiner Kahlert and Maximilian Wegge published report on online platform “Lexology”
Dr Heiner Kahlert and Maximilian Wegge have contributed also in 2023 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 one more year.
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 2023. For further information, please click here.)
BAT reaches milestone of 2000 cases
We are delighted to announce that the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) has just reached the milestone of a total of 2000 cases since its creation in 2007.
Our firm created the BAT at the behest of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and has been administering all BAT arbitrations ever since. The BAT is widely acknowledged as a highly innovative court of arbitration that has changed the landscape of dispute resolution in sport. Its success is underlined by the fact that despite BAT arbitration being entirely voluntary, and despite BAT proceedings being limited to financial disputes in basketball, its caseload arguably makes the BAT the second-biggest arbitral tribunal in sports world-wide. In recent years, the average number of cases per year was approximately 160.
We are looking forward to many more years of BAT arbitration, and will do our best to help continuously improving this dispute resolution system for the benefit of its users.
Dr Heiner Kahlert publishes Article on the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT)
Dr Heiner Kahlert and Benjamin Schindler of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have published an article in the French professional journal jurisport (La Revue Juridique et Economique du Sport). The article first provides an overview of the functioning of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT). It further describes the mechanism by which FIBA helps the prevailing party before the BAT to ensure compliance with the BAT's decision.
The French article can be downloaded here.
Welcome back, Dr Paul Fischer!
We are very pleased to welcome Dr Paul Fischer as our new and at the same time old colleague at Martens Rechtsanwaelte. Paul joins us as a Salary Partner, returning to his old workplace after just over three years.
Paul is a great asset to our team and our clients, being a great colleague with particular expertise in association law, advising national and international sports federations, data protection law as well as litigation and arbitration in sports.
We look forward to working together with joy, confidence and a lot of energy!
#Martens #Sports law #Sportslaw #Association law #Litigation #Arbitration
Dr Tinusch Jalilvand and David Menz publish article about the “IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights” in SpoPrax
Dr Tinusch Jalilvand and David Menz published an article about the “IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights” in SpoPrax 2/2023. In their article the authors deal with the consequences of IOC’s and FIFA’s commitment to Human Rights for other sports federations. In essence the authors recommend to all sports federations to develop concepts for the protection of Human Rights which are not only consisting of empty phrases but are based on actual risks of Human Rights violations caused by or contributed to by sports federations
David Menz and Dr Tinusch Jalilvand joined the “Sportainable” think tank
David Menz and Dr Tinusch Jalilvand have recently become members of the think tank "Sportainable", which is affiliated with the University of Bayreuth. The think tank, based on interdisciplinary research and consulting, is dedicated to the sustainable transformation of sport.
David Menz and Dr Tinusch Jalilvand are responsible for the area of "law" in the think tank. This provides the opportunity to bring current developments in legislation and jurisprudence to the think tank and at the same time to use the enormous potential of voluntary commitments in sport to make a positive contribution to the sustainable development of sport.
We are very much looking forward to all the projects that have been started and those that are coming up, on interdisciplinary research and consultation in these times that are as exciting as they are important.
For more information on the think tank "Sportainable", please click here.
Martens Rechtsanwälte selected as “Top Law Firm for Sports Law” by Wirtschaftswoche
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 and David Menz are listed as a highly recommended sports lawyers. The listings are based on a survey conducted by an independent expert jury of the Handelsblatt Research Institute among 500 sports lawyers from 333 law firms. In the end, 24 law firms and 34 lawyers prevailed. For the list as published on WiWo.de in German, please click here.
Maximilian Wegge publishes the article on LawInSport
Maximilian Wegge publishes the article "How Cryptocurrencies, Fan Tokens And NFTs Are Regulated In Germany" on LawInSport. The crypto industry is increasingly gaining a foothold in sport. Against this background, Maximilian Wegge shows in his article the legal framework in which cryptocurrencies, fan tokens and NFTs operate and weighs up the opportunities and risks for decision-makers in sport.
Dr Heiner Kahlert publishes article on constitutional law issues in arbitration
In the current issue 1/2023 of the German Arbitration Journal (SchiedsVZ), Dr Heiner Kahlert has published an article on the constitutional framework of arbitration. This topic has gained increased attention in recent years, particularly due to the public debate on investment arbitration tribunals as well as on sports arbitration. In his article, Dr Heiner Kahlert explains to what extent German constitutional law protects arbitration, but also sets limits to it.
