The international Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM) is a world class competition, with the aim to promote greater knowledge of the values and rules of international sports arbitration, the go to dispute resolution mechanism in the sector.

SLAM provides students from around the world the opportunity to:

1. Develop and showcase their legal and advocacy skills before the world’s leading arbitrators and practitioners virtually and in-person;
2. Gain real world experience of international sports arbitration under the leading procedural rules;
3. Receive training on writing submissions and advocacy from some of the world’s leading advocates and arbitrators in world sport.

The competition is open to all current students.

SLAM is organised by LawInSport, the world’s leading sports law knowledge hub and global community.

The cases for each round will be based on real world scenarios and the registered teams will need to familiarise themselves with CAS case law and sport rules that may be relevant to their arguments. Teams will also be arguing these real-world disputes at the hallowed halls of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The written submissions in the preliminary round will be evaluated by a selected panel of lawyers and CAS arbitrators. The successful teams will go through to regional rounds (see below for the regional classification) where the focus of the assessment will be on oral advocacy.

The four winners of the regional rounds will progress to the semi-finals of the competition. At each stage of the competition, the party for the team asked to advocate will be assigned randomly, which may mean acting for the same party more than once.

In cooperation with CAS, the competition will use the prevailing Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS/TAS) Code of Sports-related Arbitration (CAS Code).

To register a team, please click here.

Competition Timeline

1. Competition registration opened - 30 Sep 2022
2. Release of moot problem & moot rules - 10 Nov 2022
3. Period for moot problem clarification questions - 1 Nov 2022 to 04 Jan 2023
4. Written submission deadline (registration closes) - 31 Jan 2023
5. Results of written submission - 10 Feb 2023
6. Regional Oral Finals (online): 25 - 26 Feb 2023
   • Europe
   • North, Central & South America
   • Asia, Middle East & Oceania
   • Africa
7. Quarter-Finals (online via ZOOM) - 04 - 05 Mar 2023
8. Results of Quarter-Finals released and moot problem released for final rounds - 06 Mar 2023
9. Clarification questions for problem for semi-finals and finals - 20 Mar 2023
10. Finals & Semi-Finals, in person at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland - 22 - 23 Apr 2023

The Semi-Finals and Finals will be held in person at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland.

We will also be conducting training for written submissions and oral arguments for all participants, the dates for which shall be confirmed in due course.

Register your team here.

Regional Classification

Participants will be divided into the following regional groups to ensure equality of opportunity to students across the world:

• Europe
• North, Central & South America
• Asia & Oceania
• Africa

Entry & Eligibility

The entry fee per team is £100.

Financial assistance - a team can qualify for financial assistance to enter the competition please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to see if you are eligible for financial support. The forms of financial assistance that will be provided are waiver of the costs of the entry fee (whether in part or in full) or a reasonable contribution towards the cost of travelling (limited to flights/trains and accommodation) to the in-person semi-finals and finals of the competition for teams that qualify for these stages limited to an amount of £500 per team.

Student status - Students cannot enter if they have been licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction at the time of registration. Students must be registered as a student (full or part time) in an accredited institution of higher learning at the time of registration.

Team Registration

Teams consist of two team members per team. Multiple teams from a single university can register for the competition.

To register your team, click here.

Prize

The winning team will receive a prize of £1,500 and the runners-up a prize of £1,000. All four finalists from the two teams will also receive tickets to LawInSport’s Annual Conference or Football Law Conference.

About SLAM

SLAM is a not-for-profit competition with the entry fees being used to fund the administrative and organisational costs (including travel assistance for finalists if needed) as well as the education of participants.

SLAM has been designed to make sports arbitration more inclusive and diverse, so that no matter where you are located or your financial circumstances you will be able to participate.

SLAM was founded in 2019 by SportLex - Sports Law Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and supported by LawInSport since its conception. SLAM has been a LawInSport event since 2021.

Blaz Tomazin Bolcar, founder of SportLaw and co-founder of SLAM said: “It was great to see students competing in the SLAM 2022 event with a true passion for sports law. This is the very essence of the competition. I am happy to see SLAM developing into one of the best law moot competitions in the world. ”

Sean Cottrell, Co-Founder of LawInSport, added: “Last year’s competition was a privilege to organise and host. We were able to give students from around the world the opportunity to develop and showcase their ability in front of the world’s leading advocates and CAS arbitrators. This competition is a showcase for the next generation of lawyers with an interest in law in sport no matter where they are from or where they are studying.

The CAS arbitrators commented on the high quality of advocacy and we are looking forward to finding more brilliant students in this year’s competition.

I would encourage students to apply to be part of this year's competition as this truly is a rare and valuable opportunity to learn and develop relationships in the industry.”

Last year's SLAM was a huge success with:

• 70 teams enter from 20+ countries
• 40 Teams attend written submission and oral advocacy training session
• 30 CAS Arbitrators & 40 advocates, from 20 countries, judged the written submissions. 23 CAS arbitrators judged the oral rounds (which were all judged solely by CAS arbitrators)
• The 8 teams in quarter-finals came from 6 countries

To find out more information on how to participate and support this competition, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Arbitrator Registration

If you are a CAS Arbitrator and would be interested in supporting this competition please complete the following registration form. We wish to ensure that we have enough Arbitrators to evaluate the written submissions, and we will need to fill at least 45 oral argument arbitrator positions.

The registration form seeks your interest in any of the phases of SLAM and your availability.

Register Your Team

To register a team, please click here.

The 3rd SLAM Semi-Finals and Grand Final took place in person on the 22 April 2022 at the Royal Society of Medicine, London (UK). The finals judges were:

1. All teams that entered had the opportunity to attend training from experienced arbitrators and advocates on:

   1. Writting submission
   2. Oral advocacy

2. All quarter final teams received Plus Membership to LawInSport for 1 Year.

3. The 2nd placed team received the above + £1,000 prize money + tickets to LawInSport's Annual Conference or Foobtall Law Conference.

4. The winners of SLAM received £1,500 prize money + tickets to LawInSport's Annual Conference or Foobtall Law Conference.

All the judges have extensive experience as either arbitrators at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and other arbitral bodies, or they are experienced advocates in sports dispute resolution and at CAS. The judges from the quarter-final rounds onwards are all experienced CAS arbitrators.

We would like to thank our judges for their overwhelming support and for giving-up their time freely to help the next generation of sports lawyers realise their potential.

If you would like to be a supporter of the Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Quarter-Finals Judges

Panel 1

Laura Abrahamson, Mediator, Arbitrator and Referee/Special Master, JAMS
Patrice Brunet, Founder and Managing Director of Patrice Brunet Avocats
Espen Auberg, Partner, Advokatfirmaet Nova DA

Panel 2

David Benck, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Hibbett Sports
Leanne O'Leary, Senior Lecturer in Law, Edge Hill University
Christopher L. Campbell, Senior Counsel, Tyson & Mendes and Olympic Medallist

Panel 3

Janie Soublière , Principal, Soubliere Sport Law
Steve Bainbridge, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
Yoshihisa Hayakawa , Professor of Law, Rikkyo University & Partner, Uryu & Itoga

Panel 4

Emin ÖZKURT , Managing Partner, Ozkurt Law Office
Ricardo de Buen, Managing Partner, De Buen Law
Jan Räker, Senior General Counsel, VfB Stuttgart

The Rt. Hon. Lord Dyson
39 Essex Chambers - former Justice of the Supreme Court in 2010 and Master of the Rolls (President of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, and Head of Civil Justice)

Raphaëlle Favre Schnyder
Attorney at law, Partner - Barandun & Alternate Judge at Appellate Court of Valais/Wallis

Mark Hovell
Head of Sport & Partner, Mills & Reeve

Klaus Reichert SC
Barrister (Senior Counsel), Brick Court Chambers

SLAM is organised by:

• Sean Cottrell, CEO & Co-Founder, LawInSport
• Manan Agrawal, Editor, LawInSport
• Blaz Tomazin Bolcar, founder of SportLaw and co-founder of SLAM
• Jeffrey Benz, Attorney, Barrister, Arbitrator, Mediator, JAMS/4 New Square Chambers/Court of Arbitration for Sport
• Nina Goolamali KC, Barrister, 39 Essex Chambers

All organisers and judges give up their time freely and do not receive any financial remmuneration from their roles in the Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM).