Global Sports Law: Hot Topics in Australia and Japan
September 2nd (Hybrid event)
Japanese Baseball and the World: the Australia Connection September 3rd (In-person talk)
Held together with the Sydney Law School and ANJeL, and as part of Japanaroo, this symposium brings together experts and practitioners in sports law and governance from Japan and Australia to discuss the big legal issues currently shaping the global sports landscape.
The panel, moderated by Mr. Micah Burch, Senior Lecturer, Sydney Law School, will examine the governance of sporting organisations and the regulation of labour mobility in the context of a globalised sports world. Panel participants and their topics are:
Corporate Governance in Australian Sport
Professor Deborah Healey, University of New South Wales
Professor Healey is the Director of the Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre and the Editor of the Sports Law Journal. She has more than 30 years of experience serving on the boards of major sports governance organizations.
The Transfer System in Nippon Professional Baseball
Mr. Shoichi Sugiyama, Partner, Field-R Law Offices (Tokyo)
Mr. Sugiyama counsels the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association and the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency (the independent dispute resolution body for sport-related disputes in Japan). He has lectured widely on sports law in Japan.
Global Labour Mobility and Nippon Professional Baseball: Murakami to Nomo, Ichiro and Ohtani
Dr. Matt Nichol, Lecturer, Central Queensland University (Melbourne)
Dr. Nichol’s research uses approaches to labour law and regulatory theory to understand the regulation of labour in professional team sports. Dr. Nichol’s specialty is in domestic and global labour regulation and labour mobility in baseball and he is on the board of directors of Baseball Victoria.
Registration for the symposium is here. You can attend either in-person or online.
The following day September 3rd, at 2:40PM, as part of the Japanaroo Japan Expo at the Great Hall of Sydney University, Dr. Matt Nichol and Micah Burch will give a lively presentation on what makes Japanese baseball so wonderful; how it has gone global; and the Australia-Japan baseball relationship’s past, present, and future.
Dr. Nichol (CQU Melbourne, Director - Baseball Victoria Board) is an international expert in domestic and global labour regulation and labour mobility in baseball. From 2010 to 2019 Dr. Nichol worked for the Melbourne Aces in the Australian Baseball League as a liaison and interpreter for Japanese players, coaches and staff from the NPB’s Saitama Seibu Lions.
Micah Burch (Sydney Law School, Wests Boomers Baseball Club) teaches international sports law and introduction to Japanese law at Sydney University and played baseball at Kanazawa University in the early 90s.
Admission to Japan Expo is free, but please register here.
