Efraim Barak
Efraim Barak was born in Argentina (1957) but leaves most of his life (since 1964) in Israel, were he was grown and educated. He is a member of the Israeli BAR since 1987 and an Honorary Member of the BAR of Buenos Aires.
Until 31/12/2017 he was the Senior Partner at D. Mirkin & Co. and was the founder & the head of the Sport law department in that firm. On 1/1/2108 he established his own firm; EFRAIM BARAK – Sport Law & Consultancyto deal exclusively with Sport Law and Sport institutional consultancy with a special focus on International Sport Law.
He is involved as a practicing Lawyer in Sport law for more than 25 years. Within the scope of his activities as an International Sport lawyer he was involved and gathered a substantial practical experience in advising and representing either athletes, clubs and sport organizations in national and international level, and for the last 10 years he is also involved in a large number of academic and educational activities and is often invited as a speaker in congresses and seminars on Sport law worldwide.
Efraim Barak is a CAS Arbitrator since 2005 and was appointed (until the end of 2018) to deal with more than 270 Sport related arbitrations (including as president of the Panels and as Sole Arbitrator). Within his activity as CAS Arbitrator he was a member and president of panels in well-known cases, including cases with High public profile and importance, and dealt with a large variety of different topics and fields of the sport activity and sport law such as; Governance and Regulatory matters, commercial & employment disputes, Media Rights disputes, Disciplinary matters including Doping cases and Match Fixing cases and others, actually covering in his activity all the range of matters related to sport and sport law. Efraim Barak was also a member of the CAS Ad Hock Division to the Olympic Games in London 2012 and the CAS Anti-Doping Ad Hoc Division to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. Since 2015 he is member of the Legal Committee of UEFA. On 2018 he was appointed to the Sport Resolutions’ (UK) International Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators
He is one of the founders, a member and a member of the Board and treasurer of the RexSport Association, as well as a member of the International Association of Football Lawyers (AIAF).
Efraim Barak was one of the founders as well as the Academic Director and professor for over 10 years of the two ISDE Master programs in International Sports Law in Madrid and he regularly lectures in several other LLM & Master of Sport Law programs and a professor of Sport Law in various universities and organizations worldwide (NY, Zurich, Shanghai, the UEFA Football Law Program, The Real Madrid program on Sport law in collaboration with the European University in Madrid, MESGO & others). In 2018 he inaugurated a new International Sport Law Master program professionally directed by him in the Cardenal Herrera University (CEU) in Valencia, Spain.
Within his activities at RexSport he was one of the founders of the "RexSport Academy", which is the educational department of the organization and is one of the heads of the academic and educational activities of RexSport which includes, except of establishing Sport Law programs, also the organization of Conferences, Seminars and workshops on Sport Law matters.
He is also very much involved in various public activities related to Sport Law in his Country, Israel, and amongst other activities he was a member and then the Head of the Advising Committee on Statutes and By Laws of the Israeli Football Association, he was a judge in the Supreme Court of the Israel Basketball Association, he was an independent advisor to the committee in the Israeli Parliament (The "Knesset") which dealt with measures against violence in Sport and a member of the drafting committee of the Israeli Law for the prevention of violence in Sport, and a member of the Committee on Sport law of the Israel BAR. In between August 2014 and November 2017 he took upon himself the position of the General Counsel and Head of Legal of the Israel Football Association.
Under his new specialized law firm, Efraim provides services exclusively on the field of international Sport Law. While continuing his activities as a CAS Arbitrator, as well as the educational and academic activities he uses his knowledge and long experience in this field in providing mainly legal, however also general and institutional consultancy to athletes, clubs and sport organizations worldwide.
Efraim speaks fluently Hebrew, English and Spanish.