Martin Budworth is a busy senior junior who has progressed to dealing with substantial pieces of litigation (often appearing alone against Queen's Counsel). His established background in both commercial litigation and employment law makes him well suited to issues in the sports law field and he is nationally recognised for considerable experience in all aspects of sports law litigation. For example, Martin is ranked in Band 1 for the Regions by Chambers and Partners UK. He also sits as an arbitrator in sports disputes, appointed by Sport Resolutions.
1. How did you first start working in the sports industry as part of your legal career? I developed a mixed commercial and employment law practice at the Bar. The first handful of sports disputes where people had the idea to use a barrister were starting to appear and a lot of sports disputes benefit from a mixed commercial and employment-related analysis. Junior barristers tend to be pretty good value for money because fees can be keenly negotiated and so through a pre-existing solicitor contact I was instructed on an Olympic selection appeal for a swimmer trying to overturn non-selection for the Athens Olympics 2004. We lost but I was able to build on the experience. 2. What is the most interesting (sports-related) case you have dealt with? The successful claim for the Premiership footballer Jonas Gutierrez was really rewarding. He was convinced that Newcastle had conspired to make sure he missed a trigger clause for an option year after he developed testicular cancer, by deliberately not selecting him so he missed the target number of games. Proof of that as a breach of contract was looking like a real challenge until I realised we could run the case as one of disability discrimination which (a) avoided the otherwise mandatory private arbitration clause and meant it could be issued publicly in the employment tribunal and (b) benefited from the reverse burden of proof applicable to discrimination. It made all the difference and the claim succeeded. His evidence was an emotional rollercoaster and brought home to everyone how deeply he had been affected by the illness and the club's reaction to it. 3. What do you see as some key legal developments in sport at the moment? Finding the right legal and regulatory balance in the financial fair play regime is probably the predominant issue at the moment and expect the Manchester City dispute with UEFA to redefine the boundaries here. The proliferation of social drug use is also putting pressure on the current shape of anti-doping law under the WADA code. 4. What advice would you give to students and young lawyers hoping to become a ‘sports lawyer’? What are some of the rewards and challenges of this area? Passion for the subject will always bring doors that can be opened once you get into professional life and start to build a body of contacts in different spheres. People tend to get where they really want to be if they stick at it long enough. The legal profession can be a bit self-fulfilling in this respect - eventually your interest will lead to an opportunity being put your way and then with that first bit of work under your belt you can market yourself by reference to that specialist experience. That then leads to the next job and so on. Sports disputes can obviously sometimes attract more attention than say your average shareholder dispute. That exposure sharpens you up a bit and makes it a bit easier to put the hours in.
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