The Code of Arbitration for Sport, Commentary, Cases, and Materials,by Despina Mavromati and Matthieu Reeb

Abstract

The Code of Arbitration for Sport, Commentary, Cases, and Materials, by Despina Mavromati and Matthieu Reeb, Wolters Kluwer, 2015 (708 pp). The appearance of this detailed Commentary on the rules and practices of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is a further demonstration that the CAS is now a major arbitral institution, both in size and sophistication. Until fairly recently the CAS—to the extent it was known or discussed by the wider arbitration community—was considered an obscure and closed domain for ‘sports lawyers’. Many factors have and still are coming together to change that perception: significant opening up and reform of the CAS Rules and its ‘closed’ list of arbitrators, the number of CAS awards that have gone before the Swiss Supreme Court ( ‘ Tribunal federal ’ ), the high profile of some of the CAS cases, and, last but not least, the huge growth in the number of CAS arbitrations. Indeed many readers unfamiliar with the CAS might be surprised to learn that, with some 400 cases per year, it is by far the biggest arbitral institution in Switzerland, and should now be considered an important international arbitral institution in its own right. There is, of course, nothing unusual about book-length commentaries on arbitration rules. Craig, Park, and Paulsson’s commentary on the ICC Rules and practices is in its third edition; and there are at least four other commentaries on the ICC Rules, including the recent ‘Secretariat’s Guide to ICC Arbitration’.1 Other, more regional, rules have also been the subject of commentaries: a Swiss Rules of International Arbitration commentary is into a successful second edition,2 an LCIA Rules commentary and a handbook on the VIAC Rules3 have recently been published. This CAS Commentary is similar inasmuch as it contains a rule-by-rule explanation and analysis, but it is more than that. First, the authors—Matthieu Reeb and Despina Mavromati—are, respectively, the long-time CAS Secretary General and the Head of … nicolas.ulmer{at}budin.ch