On 12 April 2019, Llinks Partner Attorney Wu Wei was invited to attend the seminar titled "Leading Developments in International Sports Arbitration with a Chinese Twist". The seminar was jointly held by Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (Shanghai International Arbitration Center, hereinafter "SHAC/SHIAC") and JAMS Mediation, Arbitration and ADR Services (hereinafter "JAMS"). Guest speakers include Attorney Wu Wei, together with Mr. Wang Caixing the former head of the Policy and Regulation Department of Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau, Council member of CAS Shanghai Alternative Hearing Centre and Chairman of Shanghai Taekwondo Association, Mr. Jeffrey Benz the BAC/JAMS/CAS Arbitrator, Mr. James Kitching the Managing Partner of Kitching Sports and former general counsel of Asian Football Confederation, and Dr. Fan Mingchao the Regional Director of ICC Arbitration and ADR North Asia and CAS/SHAC/SHIAC/HKIAC Arbitrator. The distinguished group of speakers attracted more than sixty audience including government experts, renowned sports league managers, agents, scholars, enterprise seniors, lawyers from China and abroad, even professional sports club lawyers who came from Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou etc.
Mr. Ma Yi the Vice Chairman, Secretary-General of SHIAC, Consultative Committee Member of CAS Alternative Hearing Center delivered the welcome speech. Mr. Wang Caixing made his report "Overview of CAS Shanghai Alternative Hearing Center"-the site has witnessed quite a few hearings in the international horizon, and has become a globally-preferred choice for hearings. Afterwards, Attorney Wu Wei, in his role as CAS arbitrator, legislation participator and attorney, delivered his speech themed "Sports Arbitration Issues Affecting Football and Basketball in China". With the approach of major Chinese sports events including Beijing Winter Olympics and the Hangzhou Asian Games, all fields of sports in China have accelerated the progress of reform, which requires all professionals in sports law to pay enough attention to the trend of reform, understand the general background of international sports, so as to realize their individual value in institutional design, mediation, and dispute resolution etc. Attorney Wu demonstrated both the international and Chinese mechanism of dispute resolution in sports through the heated "Contact Case" in the CBA League and the monumental "Chinese Club Discrimination Case" in the AFC League. Under such innovation, Attorney Wu further proposed his idea in future establishment of a uniform dispute resolution institution in China. The audience are also presented with a brief introduction to recent hot topics in Chinese football reform, such as the naturalization policy of foreign players, contract disputes of youth players and verification of dual contracts.
Mr. Jeffrey Benz and Mr. James Kitching continued with their speeches titled "Update on Anti-Doping Issues, E-Sports and Sports IP", and "An Update on Leading Football Cases and Rules". Both speeches provided pioneering views of the industry summarized from their wealth of experience in international dispute resolution practice. Lastly, Doc. Fan Mingchao made his wrap-up speech "Sports Arbitration and Commercial Arbitration: A comparison", discussed the procedural differences and how such differences affect their systems. The guest speakers later visited CAS Shanghai Alternative Hearing Centre by the end of seminar.
Llinks Law Offices has long been supporting the development of CAS Shanghai Alternative Hearing Centre, and cooperated closely with JAMS in the expertise of sports law. It is entirely foreseeable, that Llinks will keep devoting its efforts to the exciting progress of Chinese sports industry.
