David Casserly SC

• Leading Sports Lawyer – Legal 500 2019/2020/2021/2022/2023/2024

• Leading Sports Lawyer – Who's Who Legal 2019/2020/2021/2022/2023/2024

• Leading Sports Lawyer – Chambers & Partners 2019/2020/2021/2022/2023/2024

• Leading Sports Lawyer - Leaders League 2022/2023/2024

• Chambers and Partners (2024): David Casserly maintains a highly eminent practice, with particular expertise in acting for prominent football clubs before the CAS. He also regularly advises on athlete transfers and club investments. Testimonials: "David is extremely intelligent and smart. The way he approaches complex legal matters is quite unique, and that makes him exceptional. In litigation and particularly in cross-examination he is feared"; "David is a world-leading sports disputes lawyer with outstanding technical and strategic skills and attention to detail, and is a supreme orator and communicator".

• Legal 500 (2024): Ranking - Hall of Fame. The Kellerhals Carrard team is headed by David Casserly SC, who is qualified as an Irish barrister and was appointed as a silk there in 2023, whose practice covers advising on significant commercial sports deals such as player transfers and club investments and representing international clients before CAS. Testimonials: “Mr. David Casserly SC is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best, lawyer in sports law. His career speaks for itself, representing the biggest clubs and federations in the world. His unique ability to organize and his systematically thinking means that clients can entrust him with the most diverse and complex cases”; “David Casserly SC is a great professional. Sharp, competent, tenacious. Excellent intuitive skills. Outstanding litigator. A master”.

• Who’s Who Legal (2024): ‘Thought Leader’ David Casserly receives widespread endorsements for his top-tier sports practice encompassing high-profile disputes, transfers and investments.
  
  Top-tier sports practitioner David Casserly is widely known in the sports industry, especially for his football expertise, with sources nothing that "he's frequently seen in many sports proceedings" and is invariably "brilliant".

• Chambers and Partners (2023): David Casserly maintains a highly eminent practice, with particular expertise in acting for prominent football clubs before the CAS. He also regularly advises on athlete transfers and club investments. A sports client in Europe remarks "His technical expertise is only matched by his strategic insight."

• Legal 500 (2023): 'Leading Individual' "David Casserly's strengths involve disputes and transactional work." Testimonial: 'David Casserly - world-leading partner and advocate in the sports sector who adds significant strategic value to any matter he is instructed on.'

• Chambers and Partners (2022): David Casserly maintains a highly eminent practice, with particular expertise acting for prominent football clubs before the CAS. A pleased source mentions that he has "knowledge and expertise in the subject matter," further praising "his profound understanding of the CAS system."
• Legal 500 (2022): David Casserly specialises in football law. Testimonial: 'David Casserly is by far the best lawyer I have worked with. He is very well organised, thinks quickly and is very thoughtful and balanced. Further, when it comes to arbitration, he is a true counsel that you can always count on.’ ‘As strong on strategy as he is on the law, David Casserly is our go-to for disputes in particular.’
   
• Who’s Who Legal (2022): ‘Thought Leader - Sports’. ‘National Leader (Switzerland) - Sports & Entertainment’. David Casserly possesses “vast experience” acting on behalf of prominent clients and benefits from notable experience in CAS disputes.
   
• Who’s Who Legal (2021): Global Leader – Sports; National Leader (Switzerland) - Sports & Entertainment.
   
• Who’s Who Legal - Sports & Gaming (2021): David Casserly is a “brilliant sports lawyer” with “an excellent practice” specialising in football-related disputes.
   
• Chambers and Partners (2021): David Casserly maintains a highly eminent practice, with particular expertise acting for prominent football clubs before the CAS.
   
• Chambers and Partners (2020): David Casserly represents football clubs and players in contentious and non-contentious sports mandates, including player transfers and disciplinary proceedings. Sources applaud his expertise in this field, with one client remarking: "He is the lawyer to hire if you want to give yourself the best possible chance to win a case."
   
• Who’s Who Legal – Global (EMEA) (2020): Commentators regard David Casserly as “one of the top practitioners in the field” as he excels on football related disputes and “works to understand every detail of the case to see the bigger picture”.
   
• Who’s Who Legal - Switzerland (2020): David Casserly “has extensive experience appearing at the CAS”, opine sources, who note that he “brings huge knowledge and strategic insight to any case”.
   
• Legal 500 (2019): 'Deeply knowledgeable, fully dedicated, organised and coherent' attorney and barrister David Casserly 'stands out as an advocate in oral hearings'.
   
• Who’s Who Legal Global Guide (2019): David Casserly impresses peers and clients alike with his notable experience navigating disputes; respondents hail his “deep knowledge of the CAS and World Anti-Doping Code” and note that he is “very strong on detail and sharp on case strategy” and “overall a huge asset”.
   
• Who’s Who Legal National Guide (2019): David Casserly is highlighted as a "leading sports law barrister" who stands out in particular for his depth of expertise in football.

• Since 2018: Partner, Kellerhals Carrard, Lausanne 
• Since 2008: Barrister, Law Library, Bar of Ireland 
• 2009–2011: Attorney, international arbitration practice of a boutique Swiss law firm, Geneva 
• 2005–2008: Legal Counsel & Head of Mediation, Court of Arbitration for Sport 
• 2003–2004: Attorney, international arbitration practice of a large US law firm, Paris

David Casserly has held numerous leadership roles in the areas of sports law and dispute resolution, including:

• Chairman, International Bar Association (IBA) Sub-Committee on Sports Law.
• Vice-Chairman, UIA Sports Law Commission.
• Judicial Chair of Sport Dispute Solutions Ireland (SDSI).
• Executive Committee, International Association of Football Lawyers (AIAF).
• Chairman, AIAF Football Disputes Committee.
• Editorial Board, Football Legal.
• Editorial Board, Law in Sport.
• Advisory Board, Middle East Sports Law Platform.
• Steering Committee, LawAccord.
• Executive Committee, Sports Law Bar Association.
• ADR & Arbitration Committee, Bar Council of Ireland.
• Global Steering Committee, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators YMG.

He is also a member of a number of sports law (ANZSLA, ASDS, BASL, IASL, SLA, AIAF), arbitration (ASA, Arbitration Ireland, CIArb) and professional (The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, Vaud Bar Association, Swiss Bar Association) organisations.

• Admitted to the Bar of Vaud (EU Lawyer)
• Admitted to the Bar of Ireland
• Admitted to the Bar of England & Wales
• Admitted to the New York Bar
• Masters II Droit du Sport, Université Paris Sorbonne
• Arbitration Fellow, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Accredited Mediator, ADR Group
• Barrister-at-Law Degree, The Honorable Society of King's Inns
• Diploma in Construction Law, Trinity College Dublin
• Diploma in Legal French, ICC Paris and the Law Society of Ireland
• Diploma in Arbitration, University College Dublin
• Bachelor of Civil Law Degree, University College Dublin
• French and European Civil Law, Université de Caen

• Member of several arbitration and mediation panels (including the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Sports Resolutions UK, ICC, CEDR), and is a former vice-chairman of the Irish Sports Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel
• Lectures on sports dispute resolution in universities in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, USA, France and Switzerland.