Provision of legal assistance by a lawyer to professional athletes in negotiating and concluding of contracts

Abstract

This article is devoted to the disclosure of some features of providing legal assistance to professional athletes in relation to the representation of their interests at the stage of negotiations and conclusion of contracts. Other possible activities of a lawyer in the field of sports are also analyzed. Within the framework of this article, attention is focused on the fact that, despite the significant range of types of possible lawyer activity, when the client of the lawyer is a professional athlete, in many cases such activity is limited to help (support) in concluding contracts of the professional athlete primarily with his future club (employer). Attention is focused on the importance of such a contract, taking into account the fact that regardless of whether it is the first contract in the athlete's professional career or the current one, in many ways it determines the further sports future of the professional athlete. This article also examines the special legal nature of a sports contract and draws attention to different points of view regarding its definition (some scholars hold the position that a contract with a professional athlete is an employment contract, others a civil contract and some point out that it has dual legal nature). It is concluded that the contract with the athlete is a type of employment contract, and between the parties, there is an employment relationship, not forgetting the need to take into account its features, based on the specifics of the professional activity of athletes. The position is also argued (based on the variety of sports and the ways athletes participate in competitions) about the possible civil-law nature of relations regarding the participation of professional athletes in competitions (for example, regarding the participation of professional tennis players who are self-employed and represent themselves at competitions).