Guest Blogging the Beijing Olympics

Opinio Juris is pleased to announce a panel of international sports law experts as guest bloggers during the Beijing Olympics. Throughout the Olympic Games they will discuss international sports law and provide expert commentary on any Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitrations that take place. Matt Mitten, Maidie Oliveau and Antonio Rigozzi are all leading experts in the field of international sports law. It is an area that may not be familiar to most of our readers, but it has been growing in importance ever since the establishment of CAS in the early 1980s. The establishment of arbitration under the CAS ad hoc divisions for the Olympic Games beginning in 1996, UEFA Cup in 2000, and the FIFA World Cup in 2006 has played a major part in making the Court of Arbitration for Sport the most important international sports law institution in the world.

Matt Mitten is Professor of Law and Director of the National Sports Law Institute and its LL.M. in Sports Law program for foreign lawyers at Marquette Law School. He teaches several sports law classes, including International Sports Law, and is the author of numerous articles and a leading textbook on sports law. Professor Mitten is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Sports Lawyers Association’s Board of Directors, and is an Executive Member of the International Academy of Sportslaw Practitioners & Executives.

Maidie E. Oliveau has served as an arbitrator at the last four Olympics in Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens and Turin. She is an expert in structuring major sports licensing relationships involving sponsorships, media, television and event related transactions. She is also an arbitrator on the international and sports panels of the American Arbitration Association, on the London Court of International Arbitration panel and is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Antonio Rigozzi is a partner with the law firm of Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler in Geneva, Switzerland. The author of one the main reference works on sports arbitration, he has extensive experience in both international arbitration and sports law. Dr. Rigozzi regularly advises and represents clients in all types of matters before the CAS and other sports dispute resolution bodies.

We look forward to an interesting two weeks of Olympics, and of Olympic commentary!