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Motorsport Legal is our motorsport law specific department of Sarah Franklin Solicitors.  Sarah often gets asked what is involved in this area of work … so we asked her!

The type of work I undertake as a Motorsport Lawyer generally falls into two categories – Regulatory and Contractual.  I deal with F1 to Karting and everything in between!

Regulatory work involves understanding not only the governing bodies National Rules (Motorsport UK in the case of UK but I also deal with international cases which often are governed by the FIA’s International Sporting Code), but also the specific Regulations of the individual Championship.  These are updated and change each year and are usually split into technical regulations and sporting regulations.

My weekends are usually spent ‘on call’.  This means that a driver or team instruct me to be ‘on call’ for their race weekend (usually for the whole racing season or on an individual weekend basis, particularly towards the end of the season when every point can mean the difference between winning and losing a Championship).  Prior to the weekend, I will have fully reviewed their Championship Regulations, any amendments and the final instructions.  I then follow qualifying and all races either on live streaming, live timing or, if they want, in person at the circuit.  Should there be any issues either with eligibility of their vehicle or on-track actions, I am there to advise how to deal with this, whether to appeal the decision and, if so, the procedures and fees for that.  I will also be advising if I think they should be lodging a protest.  All of these matters are extremely time sensitive so need to be dealt with quickly.

Come Monday morning, I will be dealing with further submissions for clients that I have been ‘on call’ for but my phone will also usually be buzzing from teams and drivers who have lodged appeals over the weekend and need me to act on their behalf with the further submissions to the relevant Tribunal and representation at the subsequent hearing.  I’ll also be dealing with disciplinary and investigatory procedures which may have been started.

Proceedings in the relevant Tribunals (the National Court for UK) are extremely time sensitive and one of the most common mistakes I see is drivers and teams not lodging appeals in time or not paying the fee correctly to the governing body.

Having been racing sports cars and tin tops myself for over 20 years, I think my ‘on track’ experience enables me to fully understand what’s going on and to put it across to the Court.  It puts my clients at ease to know that I ‘get it’.

The other side of my work is Contractual and disputes.  Having things in writing from the very beginning is essential – whether it be a sponsorship agreement, a management agreement or a driving agreement with a team.  Generic contracts, in my opinion, often cause confusion and don’t include everything that is needed, so, particularly during the off season, I spend a lot of time negotiating and preparing bespoke contracts – often picking up things that they probably haven’t even thought of.

Motorsport is still an area where a lot of agreed by a hand shake and that can cause so many problems if things go wrong.

The other area that I’ve been seeing a lot recently is where individuals have used AI to prepare a contract – I’m yet to see one that is good enough under English Law, doesn’t contain phrases and law from other Countries and wouldn’t cause problems if there were any issues.

I also, of course, have to deal with cases when things go wrong and try to reach a resolution in disputes between teams, drivers and sponsors or take the necessary Court action if an agreement can’t be reached.

And, in between all that, if I’m not racing myself, you’ll find me at a race track supporting drivers and marshals in my role as Ambassador of the British Motorsport Marshals Club and as a member of the British Women Racing Drivers Club.

This year, Motorsport Legal is also sponsoring F1 Academy Champion Abbi Pulling in her second year of GB3 so I’ll be trying to get along to as many of those races as I can to cheer her on.