Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing.

– Phill Jackson

SABIN GHERDAN

My life is identified with sports. Even if my parents were not professional athletes, they always considered that sports equals health. I am grateful that from a young age they have guided me to sports. I have started playing football for two years, but in the end, I switched to professional basketball where I spent 12 years. There were 12 beautiful years in which basketball was on top of my priorities, 12 years in which I won the national championship with the club team from my hometown, Oradea, and represented my country internationally at junior level.

In the world of sports, it is common to say that athletes die twice. First time when their sports career ends, and then when they leave this world. In 2012 I left the basketball court and took a seat in the benches of the Faculty of Law of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. I graduated in 2016 with the bachelor’s thesis title “Liability in Sports Law”, coordinated by Prof. univ. dr. Ionuț Popa, in the field of Civil Law – Obligations.

Moreover, in 2016 I became a Basketball Agent licensed by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), a license I still hold.

In 2018 I promoted the exam in the profession of lawyer, and I became a member of the Cluj Bar. In parallel, I continued my professional development and in 2021 I graduated the L.L.M. program “International Arbitration” at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest with the thesis title “The effects of the arbitral awards in relation to third parties referred to as sporting successors”, coordinated by Dr. Mădălina Diaconu, av. and also Associate Professor at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, at the subject Arbitration in Sports Law.

During the years I have published various legal articles such as “Effects of the sports activity contract during the state of emergency”, “International Arbitration in Sports Law. Guidelines of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal in resolving legal disputes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”, or “Non-Legal Standards. Amiable Compositeur and Ex Aequo et Bono”.

After several years in which I gained experience in the Law Sports field, the natural step was to establish a Law Firm specialized in Sports Law. Therefore, at the beginning of 2021 Gherdan & Associates – Sports Lawyers Law Firm was founded.

Although I do not like to admit, I tend to be perfectionist while perseverance is an attribute that accompanies me in everyday work. For me, any legal challenge finds its correspondence in a solution and the phrase “it’s not possible” is not found in my universe – either we will find a way, or we shall build one together.