Sports agent lawyer: the violent halt pronounced by the Court of Cassation

On March 29, 2023, the Court of Cassation ruled that the lawyer cannot, both principally and incidentally, exercise the activity of sports agent...

It should be recalled that article 6 ter paragraph 1^er full Law n ° 71-1130 of December 31, 1971 created by Law No. 2011-331 of March 28, 2011 on the modernization of the regulated judicial and legal professions provides that " Lawyers can within the framework of the regulations specific to them, represent, as an agent, one of the parties interested in the conclusion of one of the contracts mentioned in the first paragraph of Article L. 222-7* of the Sport."

On June 2, 2020, the Council of the Order of the Paris Bar amended its rules of procedure, by creating an article P.6.3.0.3 stipulating:

« The lawyer may, as a sports agent, exercise the activity consisting of bringing together, for remuneration, the parties interested in the conclusion of a contract either relating to the remunerated exercise of a sporting or training activity, or which provides for the conclusion of an employment contract whose purpose is paid exercise of a sports or training activity.

The lawyer acting as a sports representative can only be remunerated by his client. This activity must give rise to a written agreement which may, if applicable, stipulate that the player gives the sports club a mandate to pay in his name and on his behalf to the lawyer, the fees corresponding to his mission. ».

The 10 July 2020, the attorney general near the Court of Appeal of Paris had brought an action for annulment against the deliberation of the Council of the Order of the Bar of Paris having adopted the new article P.6.3.0.3.

This deliberation had been strongly criticized by the sports agents, the French Football Federation but also by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, the French Rugby Federation and the association Union des agents sportif du football, which intervened voluntarily in the proceedings, on an ancillary basis, in support of the action for annulment brought by the Attorney General.

In one judgment dated October 14, 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal had annulled the contested provision insisting mainly on the fact that the activity of putting people in contact constituted a brokerage activity, by commercial nature, which can only be exercised by a lawyer as ancillary to his main activity of advice, assistance and representation.

Contesting this judgment, the Council of the Order of the Paris Bar and the Association of sports attorneys had each lodged an appeal in cassation.

In the judgment delivered on March 29, 2023, the first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation dismisses the appeals trained by the Council of the Order of Lawyers at the Paris Bar et the Association of Sports Agent Lawyers against the judgment rendered on October 14, 2021 by the Paris Court of Appeal.

The Court of Cassation affirms that the lawyer cannot, both principally and incidentally, exercise the activity of a sports agent. The Court of Cassation confirms the position of the Paris Court of Appeal, according to which only a natural person holding a sports agent's license can put the interested parties in touch with each other for the conclusion of a contract relating to the exercise remunerated for a sporting or training activity, while the lawyer's role is to represent the interests of one of the parties to this contract, and the lawyer cannot be remunerated by a club which is the co-contractor of his customer.

Also, the High Court considers that the Paris Court of Appeal deduced from this exactly that Article P.6.3.0.3. should be canceled in its paragraph 1^er , which was not compatible with the exercise of the profession of lawyer, as well as in its paragraph 2, which was a source of conflicts of interest and contrary to the law.

For our part, we regret that the Court of Cassation rejected the appeals of the Council of the Order of Lawyers at the Paris Bar and that of the Association of Sports Representative Lawyers. Indeed, we are of the opinion that the objective of the legislator in 2011 was to moralize the sports sector and to offer athletes the choice of opting for the services of an agent and/or a sports attorney. In addition, the professions of sports agent and sports agent lawyer are more complementary than competitive. and they can live together. Finally, the sports lawyer being mandatorily subject to his ethical rules (confidentiality, independence, confidentiality and probity) but also to the specific regulations provided for by the Sports Code, in particular with regard to the supervision of the fees provided for by the Article L222-7 of the Sports Code, its recourse offers many guarantees to players in the sports world.