Erika is a multi-lingual sports lawyer with almost two decades of experience. She specializes in regulatory, governance and integrity matters. She worked for international sports federations and organisations in various functions, as well as a Legal Counsel for the Swiss Arbitration Centre and a Swiss law firm. Currently, she works for Swiss Sport Integrity where she leads investigations and prosecutes safeguarding and other integrity-related cases.
Erika also acts as an arbitrator and mediator (CEDR). She is a member of the International Panel of Sport Resolutions, the Disciplinary Tribunal of World Athletics, the Anti-Doping Panel of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and an arbitrator for Riot Games’ Dispute Resolution for Esports in EMEA. She is also a member of the Integrity Board of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Erika has a strong academic and professional in esports. She is a doctoral researcher focusing on esports integrity, and has previously lectured in esports law at the private university HAM in Ismaning, Germany.
Farai a Partner at Razano Attorneys. His practice focuses on sports law and entertainment law. He has acted for individual athletes, football clubs, sports associations, and several clients in the film and television industry. Farai has advised and acted for various clients before national and international specialist dispute resolution tribunals. He has also acted as a Prosecutor for the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport and Boxing South Africa.
Partner & Head of Sport, LCA Studio Legale
Partner of Ambiel, Belfiore & Hanna Advogados
Francis Wilson is an associate in Fisher Phillips’ Denver office who focuses his practice on employee defection and trade secrets and class and collective action litigation, as well as preventive counseling and advice. He has prosecuted and defended lawsuits involving restrictive covenant-related issues, including asserted breaches of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. Francis also has extensive experience with drafting complex employment-related contracts, such as executive compensation agreements, multi-state employment agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, and bonus and commission agreements. Francis’ experience allows him to approach contractual negotiation and drafting with a focus on both complying with applicable state and federal laws and regulations and ensuring that the client’s practical needs and goals are met. He also defends businesses on a variety of employment claims, such as discrimination and harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, Equal Pay Act violations, and False Claims Act violations.
Francis is a member of the firm’s Sports Industry Group, representing numerous professional athletes in connection with hiring their personal workers, such as nannies, mental/physical wellness coaches, chefs/nutritionists, personal assistants, etc. He also counsels professional and collegiate sports leagues and teams on a variety of employment matters and has published several articles on employment issues impacting collegiate athletics programs.
Prior to joining Fisher Phillips, Francis served as an associate for a national management-side labor and employment-focused law firm where he advised employers on and assisted employers with the defense of lawsuits involving Title VII violation, restrictive covenants matters, class and collective actions, unemployment matters, and workers’ compensation issues. He also worked as a financial consultant at a Big Four accounting firm and in-house at a non-profit national defense think tank, where he primarily was responsible for leading the company’s investigations into allegations of employee misconduct and handling other employment-related issues. The business insight Francis developed during his time in consulting, paired with his legal experience both in-house and as outside counsel, provides him with a unique ability to understand clients’ needs, goals, and expectations.
Giovanni is a Swiss-qualified lawyer with extensive experience in arbitration and sports law. He joined the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where he has served as Counsel for the past five years. His strong background in integrity and disciplinary matters, combined with his deep understanding of governance and institutional processes, will be instrumental in further strengthening the Foundation’s mission and impact and elevating it to the next level.
Hana Doumal is an independent arbitration practitioner based in Paris, acting as counsel and accepting appointments as arbitrator.
A French-Moroccan national, she is admitted to the Paris Bar since 2013. Hana has experience in litigation, commercial arbitration and investor-State arbitration. She works in English, French and Spanish and is conversational in Moroccan Arabic.
Hana has served in the arbitration sector at leading international firms and arbitral institutions in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Washington, D.C. and Paris. Before starting her own arbitration practice, she worked at the UNCITRAL Secretariat in Vienna, servicing Working Group III on the reform of investor-State dispute settlement.
Associate, Blalock Walters
Helen Tung currently practices as a Barrister, Arbitrator and mediator.
She is educated at the University of Sheffield, University of Tilburg (Erasmus Program) and University of Law in which she obtained her law degrees. Helen furthered her studies at the University of Greenwich for PhD studies (completed coursework only) in maritime security and international law and undertook Directed Studies on International Private Law at The Hague Academy. She further took part in the Global Solutions Program at Singularity University, based at NASA Ames and attended the International Space University Summer Space Program with the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Delft in The Netherlands.
Prior to joining the Bar she worked in both US and UK firms in London, before developing a commercial law practice with secondments in Korea, China and Japan. Helen has over 13 years of commercial law experience and her practice has included reinsurance, maritime law, intellectual property, employment and general commercial disputes where she advised clients in London, UAE and globally.
She was previously a legal policy advisor for the UK Maritime Coastguard and was an advocate for the Home Office with experience in Court of Appeals Helen has also advised the European Commission, METI and UAE Space Agency in relation to space law and policy. Helen was elected as member of the International Committee of the Bar Council and has particular interest in conflicts of laws in the public and private law intersection.
She is a registered advocate with the ADGM, DIFC, Bar of England and Wales and is a Foreign Registered Lawyer of Victoria, Australia. Helen is also a registered consultant with the International Maritime Organisation and also the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. She is a Partner at FTD Partners.
Howard Jacobs has been identified by leading national and international publications as one of the leading sports lawyers in the world. He is an athlete’s lawyer and not a sports agent. He represents athletes in all types of disputes, with a particular focus on the defense of athletes charged with doping and other disciplinary offenses. He has represented over 250 professional athletes, Olympic athletes and amateur athletes in disputes involving doping, salary issues, team selection issues, SafeSport issues, endorsements, unauthorized use of name and likeness, and other matters. Howard Jacobs has been consistently listed by the Chambers Guide as one of the top ranked lawyers in the United States for athletic disputes. In addition to his law practice, Howard Jacobs is an Adjunct Professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, where he teaches sports law.
As an athlete advocate, Howard provides a voice for athletes and others in all types of disputes; he has argued many landmark cases for athletes, winning cases that have set precedents and established better and more fair practices. Because of this, Howard Jacobs is a sought after expert on sports law issues.
Howard graduated from Florida State University and William and Mary Law School. He ran cross country and track & field for Florida State University and competed as a professional triathlete during law school. He currently resides in Southern California with his wife, two children, a gentle giant of a ridgeback mix, an aussiedoodle puppy and a garage full of bicycles.
Ibbad Ihsan is an Attorney-at-Law specialising in the fields of arbitration, sports law, and commercial dispute resolution.
He has worked on corporate and arbitration matters with the Securities and Exchange Commission and has also gained experience in business law and corporate practice through his work at the Attorney General’s Office.
Ibbad has gained professional exposure at leading Legal 500 and Asia-Pacific ranked firms, including Ahmer Bilal Sufi & Co. and RIAA Barker Gillette, where he has been involved in arbitration proceedings, commercial disputes, and regulatory compliance. He is currently working as an Associate at RIAA Barker Gillette, assisting in arbitration, commercial litigation, and emerging matters in sports arbitration.
He has also worked with Nemetz, Kuhnen, Dalmarco & Pamplona Novaes Advocacia on international anti-doping matters and broader sports-disciplinary cases, gaining hands-on experience in athlete-related disputes, regulatory frameworks, and international sports governance.
Outside of professional work, Ibbad actively engages in legal research and writing, with a strong interest in international sports governance, arbitration practice, and dispute resolution systems.
Jaime is a partner at Cavaliero & Associates where he joined in 2022 after having worked for more than seven years in the FIFA legal affairs division.
Jaime became the organization’s first Head of Litigation in 2018. In such role, Jaime lead a team entrusted with the defence of all decisions passed by the different bodies of FIFA that were challenged before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
During this period, Jaime participated in -and oversaw- over 400 arbitral procedures on a wide variety of disputes on several topics: contractual, employment-related, governance, doping, ethics violations, match manipulation, third party influence (TPI) and third party ownership (TPO), sporting succession, etc.
Between 2014 and 2018, Jaime worked at FIFA’s Disciplinary department of which he became the Head in 2017. In that role and as Secretary to the FIFA Disciplinary and Appeal Committees, Jaime was responsible for supervising disciplinary procedures related to breaches of several FIFA regulations, including infringements related to match incidents, match manipulation, international transfers of minor players, failure to comply with FIFA or CAS decisions, doping, third party influence and ownership, etc.
Prior to joining FIFA, Jaime worked for an international law firm in Spain, specializing in corporate law.
Jaime was admitted into the Madrid Bar Association after obtaining his Law Degree from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) in Madrid, Spain where he also obtained a Diploma in International Relations. He also holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Madrid, Spain.
Aside from having lectured in several sports law programmes such as ISDE, University of Lausanne or FIFA’s Diploma in Football Law, Jaime is regularly invited to participate as a speaker in conferences and he has published articles on international sports law.
Jaime is an arbitrator at the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal (QSAT), a member of the Disciplinary Panel of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and clerk of the Tribunal of the Equestrian International Federation (FEI). He is also a member of the Club Español de Arbitraje (CEA).
Professor of Clinical Law and Director of Externship Programs, Brooklyn Law School
Barrister, Littleton Chambers
Founder/Partner, Vandellos Sports Law
Joshua Nadreau is the Regional Managing Partner of Fisher Phillips Boston office and Vice Chair of the firm’s Labor Relations Group. He represents clients across the country in traditional labor matters, complex employment litigation, and high-stakes issues at the intersection of law, sports, and higher education, among others.
Josh is widely recognized for his work advising employers through all phases of union organizing campaigns, representation proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and collective bargaining. He has successfully defended clients against unfair labor practice charges, led internal labor strategy for publicly traded companies and major universities, and negotiated successor agreements in some of the country’s most union-dense industries. He also counsels buyers and sellers in transactions involving unionized workforces, helping clients assess and mitigate labor risks in corporate acquisitions.
A significant portion of Josh’s practice focuses on sports law and the rapidly evolving legal issues in college athletics. He is a trusted advisor to NCAA Division I institutions and conferences navigating compliance with name, image, and likeness (NIL) laws, student-athlete employment challenges, and related concerns. He has been quoted in The Athletic, Politico, Law360, and Bloomberg Law on legal developments shaping the future of college sports, including student-athlete unionization and landmark litigation such as Johnson v. NCAA and House v. NCAA.
Josh also maintains an active employment litigation practice. He defends employers in class and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage laws, with a focus on claims involving timekeeping, misclassification, off-the-clock work, and meal/rest break violations. He regularly handles investigations and audits before the U.S. Department of Labor and state agencies.
Josh has first-chaired numerous arbitration hearings involving employee discipline, discharge, and contract interpretation. He advises clients daily on operating in unionized environments, from managing grievances to policy development and supervisory training.
Josh represents a broad range of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to regional employers in industries including sports, higher education, hospitality, manufacturing, and retail, and health care.
Outside the office, Josh is a certified high school football referee and a proud father to two boys and Watson the Beagle.
Associate, Jones Emery LLP
