COMPLIANCE IN SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS
Compliance is also becoming increasingly important for sports organizations, but has only played a subordinate role to date. This is often due to a lack of knowledge and a lack of clarity regarding the design of compliance programs that meet sport-specific requirements and risks.
The “Compliance in sports organizations” project group deals with the specific risks in sports associations and clubs, particularly in the areas of finance, decision-making processes, health and competitive sport. The aim is to develop guidelines with those responsible at sports associations and clubs, to provide them with assistance and to support them in establishing good compliance structures in their day-to-day work. The project group will also serve as a platform for a specialist exchange between those responsible at sports organizations, representatives of academia and third-party providers and consultants.
PROJECT GROUP MANAGEMENT

Katharina Dierlamm, LL.M. (Sports Law)
Partner of the law firm DIERLAMM Rechtsanwälte
Katharina Dierlamm studied law at the University of Bonn and began working as a lawyer in 2013. She is now a partner at DIERLAMM Rechtsanwälte, one of the leading law firms in commercial and criminal tax law. She has been a specialist lawyer for criminal law since 2016. From 2018 to 2021, Katharina Dierlamm completed the LL.M. Sports Law Master’s program at the University of Bayreuth while working. Katharina Dierlamm works nationally and internationally as a defense lawyer and corporate lawyer in criminal and regulatory proceedings and regularly conducts compliance investigations and compliance training. One focus of her work is criminal law advice and compliance advice for sports associations and sports clubs.
Katharina Dierlamm is Vice President of the German Volleyball Association (DVV) and a board member of the German Ombudsman Association – Vereinigung deutscher Vertrauensanwälte e.V. (GOA) and the Wiesbadener Anwalts- und Notarverein (WANV). She is also a member of the working group “Internal Investigations and Whistleblower Systems” of the German Institute for Compliance – DICO e.V., the Criminal Law Working Group of the German Bar Association (DAV), the Sports Law Working Group of the German Bar Association (DAV), the Association of German Defense Lawyers (Vereinigung Deutscher Strafverteidiger e.V.), the Association of Hessian Defense Lawyers (Vereinigung Hessischer Strafverteidiger e.V.), the Association for Commercial Criminal Law (Wirtschaftsstrafrechtliche Vereinigung e.V. – WisteV) and the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA).

Dr. Christian Schmitz
Partner of the law firm verte|rechtsanwälte
Dr. Christian Schmitz, lawyer and specialist lawyer for criminal law, is a partner in the law firm verte|rechtsanwälte and a lecturer at the Rheinische Hochschule in the Compliance and Corporate Security (LL.M.) course. Dr. Schmitz defends and advises individuals and companies in a variety of complex criminal proceedings as well as in the context of compliance investigations. One focus of his work is advising sports associations. Together with his team, he has already worked on cases of embezzlement, corruption and sexual assault in various sports organizations. Outside of traditional sports, he investigated various cases of rule violations for a large esports association.
In addition to his long-standing membership of DICO, he is a member of the Association for Commercial Criminal Law (WisteV), the legislative committee of the German Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Cologne Bar Association (KAV), the German Bar Association (DAV), the Criminal Law Working Group of the DAV and the Association for the Promotion of the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Cologne.
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- info@dico-ev.de