Lauren Pagé

I am an experienced contentious/regulatory sports lawyer, working as a partner in our Media, Entertainment & Sports Group in London. My practice focuses predominantly on advising sport governing bodies in relation to disputes and disciplinary cases, governance issues, and investigations.

I have acted for sport governing bodies across various sports, including (among others) motor sport, equestrian, tennis, biathlon, rugby union, cricket, ice hockey, and field hockey. Much of my work centres on enforcing rules that are designed to maintain a level playing field in sport. For instance, I have significant experience in prosecuting anti-doping and other disciplinary cases for international sport governing bodies both before first instance tribunals and on appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The good governance of sport is also a particular focus of my work. I have been closely involved in governance reviews, which generally involve advising on best practice in sports governance, assisting with stakeholder consultations, and drafting new governance structures based on such advice/consultations. For example, I was closely involved in the establishment of an operationally independent 'Integrity Unit' for an international federation, i.e. a unit that handles all integrity-related matters for the sport. Integrity units present a new and effective model for sports governance that is starting to be adopted in a number of sports.

When the governance of sport is mishandled, or when there is serious misconduct in sport, there is often a need for a comprehensive investigation. I have served as legal secretary to an independent external review commission in a major two-year investigation into past misconduct within the top levels of management at an international federation and I have also acted for sport governing bodies on other smaller scale investigations. Sports investigations generally present various complexities given that they often involve cross-border work and touch on several areas of law, including (among others) sports, data protection, employment, and media law. At Bird & Bird, we are well-positioned to advise on all aspects of investigations, given the significant investigations experience in the Sports Group as well as across the wider firm (in different practice areas and jurisdictions), and given that we benefit from our own internal forensics team.

I am also an arbitrator for the Euroleague Basketball Dispute Resolution Chamber and Sport Resolutions (UK) International Hearing Panel, a member of the UCI Ethics Commission, and an independent director of the British Orienteering Federation.

Further, I am the co-author (with Jonathan Taylor QC) of a chapter ('The Autonomy of the Sports Movement, and its Limits') in the leading UK sports law practitioners' textbook, Sport: Law and Practice (Bloomsbury Professional, 4th Edition 2021).

I have a dual civil and common law degree from McGill University (Montreal, Canada), and am qualified in three jurisdictions: England & Wales, Quebec, and New York. I am fluent in French, and also speak German (intermediate) and Italian (conversational).

• Representing the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in bringing cases against various tennis players for violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme.
• Representing the ITF in bringing disciplinary charges against a then Fed Cup Captain for various breaches of the ITF Welfare Policy, including for sexual harassment, using racially insensitive language, abusive and threatening conduct towards members of the media and ITF officials, and an on-court outburst that included abusive language towards the captain's opponents.
• Representing the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) before the FIA International Court of Appeal in proceedings concerning the disqualification of teams for breaches of the applicable technical regulations, including in Formula One and the 24 Hours Le Mans.
• Representing the International Cricket Council (ICC) in proceedings concerning the expulsion of United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) from ICC membership.