Students from St Petersburg University secure gold and silver medals in an international sport arbitration competition
Teams from St Petersburg University have taken first and second places in the Sport Arbitration Competition, an international contest in sport arbitration.
The competition took place in Moscow in the form of a moot court. The teams were required to analyse the circumstances of the case and pertinent legal documents, and then present the legal positions of both the plaintiff and the defendant.
This year, the case focused on regulating international transfers in hockey and employment contract terms within the National Hockey League (NHL). The participants were tasked with comprehending the intricate relationship between professional sports leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), resolving disputes concerning the team-to-team transactions.
The winning team comprised students in the master’s programme "Lawyer in the Field of Sports Law (Sports Lawyer)": Sergei Larionov, Iuliia Larionova, Polina Kozlova, Kirill Dmitriev, and Elena Pashchenko.
"Through the drawing of lots, it was determined whose interests we had to represent in our moot court. The circumstances presented in the case made it possible to turn the position both towards the plaintiff and towards the defendant", said Iuliia Larionova, a member of one of the University’s teams. The team represented the interests of the plaintiff, a hockey player whose fate was decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The fictional case was inspired by a similar real-life story of an athlete. The plaintiff’s side had to achieve the cancellation of the disqualification of the hockey player, which was applied by the independent IIHF Disciplinary Board. As a result, the panel of arbitrators ruled in favour of the plaintiff.
The master’s programme "Lawyer in the Field of Sports Law (Sports Lawyer)" is offered by St Petersburg University. In order to form a portfolio of competencies necessary for a future graduate of the programme, leading employers in the field of sports participated in its creation and implementation. They include: the Russian Football Union; Football Club Zenit and Zenit Arena LLC; Professional Football Club CSKA; the Association of Football Federations North West; the Russian Ice Hockey Federation; the Kontinental Hockey League; SKA Ice Hockey Club; Volleyball Federation of Russia; Professional Basketball Club CSKA; the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting; St Petersburg Practical Shooting Federation; St Petersburg Equestrian Federation; the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of St Petersburg; and other partners of the University.
The team also won the nomination "Best procedural document for the plaintiff". Sergei Larionov, student of St Petersburg University, became the best speaker of the competition.
The second place was taken by St Petersburg University students Dmitrii Voevalko and Arsenii Blagodatskikh.
"Given the high relevance of the moot case, which is based on a real case, it was interesting to figure out what at first glance seems confusing and difficult to solve. The experience of participating in the moot courts of my colleague Arsenii Blagodatskikh helped, as well as advice and recommendations from our coach Iliia Vasilev. It is extremely pleasant that two teams representing St Petersburg University met in the final of the competition," Dmitrii Voevalko noted.
St Petersburg University students were trained by lecturers in the master’s programme "Lawyer in the Field of Sports Law (Sports Lawyer)": Anastasiia Kashaeva, Diana Arkhangelskaia, Olga Donina, and Ilia Vasiliev.