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. If you’re interested in the business of sport, you should subscribe to the Unofficial Partner newsletter that goes direct to the inbox of thousands of people across sport, every Thursday. Sign up via UnofficialPartner.comUnofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.