During May 16-18, 2019, Llinks attorney David Wu was invited to participate in the 45th Sports Lawyers Association (hereinafter referred to as "SLA") Annual Conference with delegation of General Administration of Sport of PRC. Founded in 1975, the SLA aims to bring together lawyers representing both sides of employers and employees (i.e., clubs and players) in sports, to understand the positions and requests of each side, and look into future industry developments. So far, the SLA Annual Conference organized by SLA has grown to be one of the world's most highly stressed authoritative conference in the sports law expertise.
The 45th conference was held in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and has attracted sports lawyers, CAS arbitrators, government experts, officials, sports event managers, sports investors, industry executives, club/athlete representatives, university scholars, and other industry veterans around the world, including Secretary General of Court of Arbitration for Sport Mr. Matthieu Reeb, NBA Vice Presidents Mr. Dan Spillane and Mr. Alex Vermeychuk, NFL General Counsel Mr. Tom DePaso, Senior Manager of Riot Games Esports League Operations Mr. Christopher Greeley, Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services Arbitrator/Mediator Mr. Jeffrey Benz, etc. On the basis of traditionally-discussed issues as antitrust, intellectual property, labor relations, agency relations, competition management, business operations etc., this year's SLA Annual Conference also covered the latest hot topics in the field of sports law, such as the fields of physical education, minor training, minor league development, gender equality and e-sports. Attendants discussed and presented developments of the world sports in the past year, and envisioned the future professional duty and objectives of sports law practitioners.
This is the fourth time that Attorney Wu is invited to participate or speak at the conference by the SLA since 2016 as one of the most active CAS arbitrators in China. During the conference, David Wu accompanied the delegation of Department of Policy and Regulation, General Administration of Sport of China, to participate in seminars including "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Update: Recent Developments in Procedure and Disputes Involving the Olympic Games, Soccer, Doping and Sport Governance", "Athletics Issues Through the Lens of College and University Counsel", "Deciphering the Hype: Legal and Business Impacts of Technology and Social on Sports Media" and "eSports the Big Thing", etc. The delegation members exchanged their opinions with SLA participants, and reached a preliminary cooperation plan on future bilateral communication with the China Law Society Institute of Sports Law in the field of theory and practice. Further cooperation will be made in sports league governance, anti-doping and multiple Olympic events. The sports law team of Llinks Law Offices will maintain its support to the internationalization of Chinese sports industry and keep promoting its vigorous development.
