My experiences as a mentee for LawInSport: Navneet Ramloll

In May 2022, I stumbled upon LawInSport’s mentoring scheme for the first time through social media. I instantly thought that this was a fantastic opportunity to receive insight and detailed guidance in an area of law that is still considered niche in many parts of the world, including where I come from, in Mauritius. The questions in the application were interesting from an applicant’s point of view as it was clearly implied that some of our answers would directly be taken into account if we would get chosen for the scheme, in terms of assessing the best mentor to help us for our interests. 

On 5 August 2022, I was extremely proud to learn that I had been picked for the mentoring scheme, especially as we had been told a week prior that more than 300 applications had been received for a cohort of less than 50 mentees. We were given details about the start of the mentoring scheme, which coincided with my return to the UK to study a LLM in London. We were encouraged to network with confidence and engage with the other mentees to fully benefit from the scheme. I quickly looked up some of my peers on LinkedIn and dropped some of them a message to know more about them. This was quite insightful as I learned about paralegal and volunteering opportunities in the sports law sector, such as at the Football Association (“The FA”) or at other sports federations in the UK. I also learned about university courses which focused on sports law, such as De Montfort University’s diploma in sports law, or ISDE’s Master in International Sports Law.

Introduction with mentor

In mid-September, I was put in touch with my mentor, Richard Bush, who is a partner at international law firm, Bird & Bird. I did some background research on him in order to know what his areas of expertise were, as well as to know what his background was. As a student, I am still at the very early stages of my legal career and at this stage, I find it very interesting to know what people in the legal industry did at the same time as they were completing their studies. After finding out that Richard was an expert in safeguarding in sport, I listened to a few interviews he had given, as well as read a few of his articles on the matter – which included his articles for LawInSport.

First meeting with mentor

We quickly set up a first meeting which would take place in London in early October, at the Bird & Bird offices. I was actually very excited to visit a major law firm’s office in London, as I had never done previously. Richard and I got along very well from the onset as the chat around the mentoring scheme was informal and engaging. We discussed his background and how he eventually made it to sports law, such as his early work at The FA. As a football fan, I found it fascinating to learn about his time there, on a personal and professional aspect. We discussed different kinds of potential work experience in sports law, as he recognised that it was a field where mentoring is particularly useful due to its relative novelty. At my level, I was recommended to show my interest in intersections between sports and regulation, such as through refereeing or umpiring, and volunteering at sports events which required monitoring or assisting in the administrative aspect.

We also talked about the pros and cons of a Masters course in Sports Law, such as the networking and expertise balanced with the time and costs. I was told about internal sports law online seminars which he could potentially give me access to, in conjunction with work experience opportunities at the firm – which seemed scarce. Finally, Richard told me about a big project which he would work on later on in the year, and for which I might eventually help with some research.

Webinar – “Breaking into sports law” 

In late November, the mentees were invited to an open webinar by LawInSport about how to get started in the sports law industry. There were three main points that stuck with me:

1. People want a good sports lawyer, not a good sports fan. Being passionate about sports is useless if you do not have the legal knowledge to help your client.
2. We must not forget that people currently in the industry are human, and there is no harm in reaching out to someone and asking whether we can be of assistance.
3. In such a relatively small area, networking is crucial and “making a name for yourself” can be very important as your name will be increasingly recognised.

We were also given a summary of the multiple legal issues in sports currently, and a summary of the crucial skills to develop in order to deal with these issues – namely, excellent legal knowledge, a proactive attitude, and a good ability to work in changing teams.

Webinar – “Career-planning session for mentees” 

In mid-December, a closed webinar was hosted for the mentees only, focusing on career-planning. This webinar definitely helped us learn more about ourselves as we did an exercise on listing our strengths and weaknesses. We also considered what the best and worst scenarios would be for each of us in terms of working environment. Listing weaknesses in such a way enabled me to understand which professional skills I should focus on: being more confident in the workplace, and more proactive with opportunities.

Second meeting with mentor

I only had my second meeting with Richard in April, due to having to focus on the SQE1 exams, and my LLM course. He gave me some very interesting research work to conduct on safeguarding in sport, as he highlighted how little case analysis there is for specific scenarios. I was told to find case law which would be relevant to a major article he wanted to write, about the Yves Jean-Bart ruling, whereby the Haiti FA president was handed a lifetime FIFA ban for a sexual abuse scandal. Richard gave me a rundown of websites where I should find relevant information and throughout three weeks, I corresponded regularly with him to find the most appropriate case law. The article can be read here on LawInSport.

Webinar – “Mentee to mentee webinar”

In May, Sean (LawInSport CEO) told us in a webinar how important it was to create bonds between the mentees as it could prove crucial in the future, again highlighting the importance of networking in this field. Former mentees were present in the call to tell us how to maximise the last few months of the scheme and fully benefit.

Webinar – “Effective Writing” 

Finally, in July, we had a call to discuss how to approach the submission of an article for LawInSport. I chose to write a journal as I was keen to reflect on my experiences, but I am definitely keen on eventually getting articles published on LawInSport, and the advice was invaluable in terms of research, structure, and depth. I learned about the nuance between writing a strong opinionated piece, and making sure the article is objective enough. I enjoyed hearing about how a former mentee’s article received a lot of attention just by virtue of being concise and accurate with his piece.

Looking ahead

The Mentoring Scheme was very helpful in teaching me about the sports law industry but also teaching me about myself through the career-building webinars. I am constantly looking at volunteering to gain experience and I have been much more assertive with my communication. If I could improve something, it would be my interactions with my mentor, as I believe I should have done more to stay in touch throughout the year.

Overall, the scheme has been great and I already recommended it to coursemates who were interested in sports law.