Maud Sarlieve is an expert in International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights and a leading authority in the development of creative legal thinking to address the environmental and climate crisis.  Her professional commitments and casework have taken her to conflict and post conflict environments in SE Asia, the Middle East, Central and East Africa, Latin America, The Balkans and Eastern Europe. She is currently Judge Assessor with the French National Court of Asylum, a Founder of CTRL-Z – focused on climate and environmental justice in addition to numerous other roles. 

Our conversation starts with Maud's path into international law, which did involve some twists and turns. We discuss her early years in practice and some of her early assignments and what she learned from each one. We discuss then how she applies development of creative legal thinking to enable the evolution of approaches in areas involving the environmental and climate crisis.  We discuss the crime of ecocide and how it is defined, and explore how the war in Ukraine is heightening awareness of this issue. 

As in many podcasts in this series we discuss diversity in law, and the mindset required to practice in fields that can involve protracted processes, that can, in some cases, stretch out for many years.  

This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of DLA Piper Ireland. https://www.dlapiper.com/en-ma/locations/dublin

Susan Ahern who is a barrister, international arbitrator and accredited mediator with a specialization in sports law and regulation. She is currently Chair of the Sports Law Bar Association of Ireland, and formerly was General Counsel for World Rugby/ Rugby World Cup limited. She has over 25 years experience as an iNED including RTE, World Wheelchair Rugby, UCI Cycling World Championships, Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the Residential Tenancies Board. 

Our conversation starts with her high school journey and the first time that competitive sports entered her life.  From shot-put to volley-ball she excelled at whatever she turned to, and this continued into college life and beyond, when she played volleyball at a National level. We trace then her path from studying law, which took a surprising, yet productive tour into banking, and then back to law when she became an in-house counsel at a sporting organization. 

We trace then the evolution of sports law as an area of law, and draw a parallel with sports and its professionalization.  Susan compares running a legal department to captaining a sports team, because of the collective purpose and mutual support and engagement inherent in that. Sports law has evolved significantly over the last decade and both the commercial and regulatory aspect have broadened so much that it is now difficult to bridge both aspects as Susan did throughout her career.  However, the richness inherent in it has led to the development of entire sports law departments and therefore multiple career opportunities. 

Susan also holds a number of non-executive roles and Board roles and she provides insight as to what it takes to be successful in these roles as well as the skills needed to be a successful arbitrator. 

After a detailed discussion of diversity and its evolution in both the field of law and sports, we turn to some personal reflections which, as might be expected, also come from inspirational sporting images.  We are reminded to "live our dreams, awake in action".