Partner, Fisher Phillips & Attorney, Field-R Law Offices

Paolo Lombardi is the founder and Managing Director of Lombardi Associates, a boutique

sports regulatory firm founded in 2010, which acts for a range of football stakeholder clients

including clubs, players, coaches, intermediaries, associations, leagues and investors.

Paolo graduated from the University of Padova with a degree in Law. He undertook the FIFA

Master (MA) in Management Law and Humanities of Sport in 2002. In 2010 he was named

Honorary Professor of the International Sports Law ISDE Masters, Madrid.

Paolo began his career in the football industry when he joined the FIFA Players’ Status

Department in 2002, becoming Deputy Head in 2006. He was personally active in many

important cases, which impacted significantly on the existing jurisprudence on contractual

stability (Mexes, Mutu, Matuzalem among others) and, as of 2005, was in charge of all

agent-related matters. As well as handling FIFA’s football tribunals proceedings, Paolo also

represented FIFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a number of cases.

During his time at FIFA, Paolo was involved in the working groups for the drafting and re-

drafting of various FIFA regulations, including the Statutes, the Regulations on the Status

and Transfer of Players, the Players’ Agents Regulations, the Disciplinary Code and the

Code of Ethics. In addition, Paolo conducted discussions with WADA during the creation of

the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations.

In 2007 he was appointed Head of FIFA Disciplinary and Governance. In this role, he

oversaw all disciplinary and governance matters both in-house and at various FIFA

tournaments such as the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South

Africa.

After leaving FIFA following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Paolo founded Lombardi Associates.

His work includes advising over one third of clubs in the Italian Serie A, and a number of

clubs across the UK and Europe. Paolo advises clients on transfers, dispute resolution,

breach of contract, training compensation and solidarity mechanism, registration of minors,

eligibility and more. With the increasing impact of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations,

he has also assisted clubs with both UEFA and national licensing issues, including in front

of CAS. Paolo’s activities for clients include consulting and providing expert opinions on

aspects of national and international regulations and regulatory interpretation for investors.

Paolo has been involved in a number of landmark cases, which have shaped the recent

jurisprudence of CAS1. Including his time with FIFA, Paolo has been involved in hundreds

of CAS proceedings.

Paolo lectures on an ad hoc basis for a range of Universities, Masters programmes and

conferences and sits on boards and committees of various institutions. Lombardi Associates

have also staged the very successful Edinburgh Sports Conference.

He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Founder, Global Sports Advocates

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Sports Law Consultant, CSMV Advogados

Of counsel at CSMV Advogados (Brazil), specialized in Sports Law. Former in-house counsel at Brazil Olympic Committee.Master in Transnational Law (2019) and LL.M International Business Law (2017) from Católica Global School of Law (Portugal).Holds Post-Graduate Certificates in Corporate Law from IBMEC (2014) and in Sports Law from Universidade Cândido Mendes (2012).Member of Portuguese Association of Sports Law (APDD) and of Brazilian Sports Law Society (SBDD).

Sports Law Consultant, CSMV Advogados

Director of International Law at Lockheed Martin

Rasoul is a Lawyer and his practice focuses on sports law, with extensive practice experience of dealing with sports matters, whether contentious or non-contentious, including in respect of all legal issues pertaining to football. Furthermore, He is legal advisor of Iranian baseball/softball association.

Rasoul has represented clients before dispute resolution and disciplinary bodies of Iranian Football Federation, FIFA and the CAS, and frequently advises top football players, coaches, agents, and clubs in Iran. Also, He is a lecturer in Football Law for lawyers, and football agents in Iran.

He regularly provides comments and analysis on legal issues in sport for Iranian news agencies and often national TV. He can be found at Linkedin here.

Partner, Bird & Bird LLP

Queen’s Counsel, 4 New Square

Associate, Mills & Reeve LLP

Associate Professor, TRU Law

Lecturer & Teaching Fellow, University of Waikato

Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

Tenured Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb

Partner, DLA Piper

Office Managing Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

Barrister, Kings Chambers & 2 Temple Gardens

Suzanne is a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and represents sports national governing bodies and international federations in domestic and international arbitration and in internal grievance proceedings, including in the areas of athlete protection, “opportunity to compete” and selection challenges, compliance claims, doping cases, and a wide array of other disputes within the Olympic and Paralympic Movement and sports more broadly. Since she joined the firm, she has represented over twenty sports organizations in over ninety of these types of disputes.

Suzanne is well known for her work designing and implementing athlete protection policies on behalf of both professional and amateur sports organizations. In addition, she regularly advises sports clients on the development, implementation, and enforcement of bylaws, selection procedures, and other organizational rules, policies, and procedures. Suzanne has also played a key role in obtaining recognition and sanctioning for new and emerging sports, and maintaining the good standing of existing sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

As part of her sports practice, Suzanne regularly advises clients on nonprofit formation, governance, board disputes, and other issues unique to nonprofit organizations.

Prior to joining Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Suzanne served as a judicial clerk for Judges Richard Gabriel and Russell Carparelli on the Colorado Court of Appeals. She is a former course record holder in the Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb Ascent (2015) and was the 2012 Professional Women’s New York State Road Race champion in cycling.