Representatives of the Law firm "YUST" took part in a session of the Commission on the sports law of the Association of Russian Lawyers.

The Sports Law Commission was established to unite Russian lawyers for the interaction in development and implementation of sports legislation, particularly in lawmaking and rendering qualified legal assistance to sports foundations and sportsmen.

The Commission consisted of leading sports lawyers of Russia, scientists on sports law, representatives of the State Duma of the RF, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the Russian Football Union, the Continental Hockey League, the Olympic Committee of the Russian Federation, and representatives of law firms, including lawyers of the Law firm “YUST”. Also, representatives of sports foundations, clubs, sports journalists and other persons interested in issues on sports law took part in the session.

During the first introductory session, the Commission strategy was defined. Words of welcome were delivered by Mr. Blazheev, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation and Rector of the Moscow State Academy of Law (MSAL), thanks to whom the Academy hosted the Commission sessions.

Professor, Dr. Jur S. V. Alekseev – Chairman of the Commission, author of textbooks on sports law – acquainted the Commission members and participants of the session with main objectives of the Commission: assistance in sports development by means of improvement its legal and regulatory base; creation of effective mechanism for sports legal regulation; providing legal services and protection of sportsmen, trainers and sports foundations’ rights; legal assistance to dynamic development of sports in Russia and worldwide.

At the session, V. J. Katkov, Chairman of the Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) made a speech on lawmaking issues; A. S. Leonov, Deputy Head of the Labor and Social Policy Committee of the State Duma proposed schemes of working groups structure; Professor K. N. Gusov, Dr. Jur., Honored scientist of the Russian Federation, Head of the labor law and social security law department of the Moscow State Academy of Law (MSAL), and O.A. Shevchenko, LLM, Executive secretary of the Commission on coordination of work of the Commission. D. I. Rogatchyov, LLM, Legal counselor of the RFU, delivered a report on modern problems of sports that require legal regulation.

A. M. Kotova, LLM, Advocate, Associated Partner of the Law firm “YUST”, and M. A. Prokopets, Senior Lawyer of the firm shared with the Commission and the rest of the audience the experience of the Law firm “YUST” in sports law, particularly in legal support of sports foundations and clubs, and emphasized legal regulatory problems in sports.

As a result of the first session of the Commission, a resolution on the establishment of the following working groups within the framework of the Commission was adopted:

• Group for legal protection of Russian sportsmen;
• Group for lawmaking in sports law;
• Group for preparation of legal regulations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.