UP256 The Godfather of Sports Law

Michael Beloff QC is often described as ‘the godfather of sports law’ and the person who Chambers legal directory said ‘more or less invented sports law’ as a discipline. As a result Beloff is one of the most influential people in world sport over the past three decades. 

He’s written a memoir about his life and career in and out of sport. It’s called MJBQC and we recommend it highly. 

Beloff was called to the Bar in 1967 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1981. He’s been a Member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport ("CAS") from 1996 and in that capacity has been an arbitrator at the Olympic Games including Ethics Commissioner at London 2012. He has been on the CAS Panel for UEFA and the FIFA World Cup, chairman of the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct Commission and was elected as one of the judges of the FIA’s International Court of Appeal. 

Every sport has been influenced by Beloff in some way, and so the topic of conversation is broad, ranging from corruption, doping and sports washing to how money changed the role of governing bodies and the people who run them. We talk about the image of lawyers, human rights and whether sport leads or follows society; Nike's Vapor Fly super shoes and his long time friendship with the author and former politician Jeffrey Archer. 

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