Spirit of the law

Created to celebrate and reflect the values of fair play and team spirit in the game of kings, Lawyers Polo attracts participants from around the world

Polo, law, chivalry and friendship are the four pillars of Lawyers Polo. The group, founded in 2008, provides an opportunity for an international group of lawyers dedicated to the sport and art of polo to convene, dine, swap stories, compete and, most importantly, to bond. ‘The idea was to create a networking event for lawyers around polo. It has worked out so well that, today, the sporting spirit and friendships have eclipsed its original networking objective,’ explains Eduardo Bérèterbide, co-founder of Lawyers Polo and attorney at Shearman & Sterling in Paris.

The idea was conceived during a dinner between Argentinian Bérèterbide and Canadian Justin Fogarty in New York City as they planned their attendance at the International Bar Association (IBA) annual conference in Buenos Aires. ‘We thought how interesting and fun would be to play with other lawyers. Colleagues liked the idea from the onset, and what had been thought of as one single match ended up being an eight-team tournament – that’s 32 lawyers!’ says Bérèterbide. Since that first successful experience, the demand has risen, Lawyers Polo has kept growing and began organising tournaments worldwide: Madrid (2009), Toronto (2010), Dubai (2011) and Paris (2012).

The main objective of Lawyers Polo is to create the right environment of trust and affinity between players and followers, thus forging personal links with international colleagues. Polo, with its natural demands of fair play and team spirit, has been the inspiration for creating the genuine loyalty that exists between members.

Participants come from all around the globe and play polo in more than 30 countries. ‘Our players hail from many different cultures and speak many different languages but, thanks to polo, we understand each other perfectly,’ continues Bérèterbide. Nowadays, Lawyers Polo has a network of around 300. The tournaments are 4-goal and yet, despite this low handicap, all players have plenty of experience. For example, Justin Fogarty was the president of Polo Canada, and Attila Tanzi is the president of the Milano Polo Club. Other seasoned players include Carlos Rivas, Martin Magal, Alfredo Vargas, Jean-Yves Garaud and Dato Mohamed Zekri.

Last October, France was the venue for Lawyers Polo’s fifth annual tournament. Six teams participated, numbering lawyers from as far afield as England, Argentina, France, India, Malaysia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Venezuela, Netherlands and Canada. The event kicked off with a black-tie cocktail reception at the George V Hotel in Paris that was attended by luminaries from the French legal and polo worlds as well as many international players.

The matches took place at the Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly (Terrain de l’Honneur 1 et 2). Following the first match day, Thomas Rinderknecht, a Swiss lawyer and a very experienced player, invited all the players to dine at his house in Senlis. On the Friday night after the play-off games, the whole group attended a dinner prepared by the celebrated

French chef Arnaud Faye at the hotel Auberge du Jeu de Paume.

Saturday 13 October saw the final played between Lechuza Caracas and La Victoire. After a fast-paced game, Lechuza Caracas won the 2012 Emirates NBD Cup, having defeated La Victoire 8-4. Alfredo Vargas, their captain, was awarded the MVP prize. A lawyer who practises in Caracas and New York but currently works and plays polo in the Dominican Republic, he was delighted with the result. ‘We are very proud to have won the Emirates NBD Cup in Chantilly. In fact, this was the first time a Lechuza Caracas team had played on French soil,’ he said.

Vargas scored four goals for Lechuza Caracas, followed by Carlos Rivas with three and Daniel Hurstel who scored one. Rivas is a lawyer with DLA Piper in Palo Alto, California, and plays at Menlo Polo Club, while Hurstel is a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Paris. For La Victoire, Ludovic Pailloncy scored two goals, and Attila Tanzi and Anil Abraham, one apiece. The second final was between Emirates NBD (third place) and Allen & Overy (fourth). The last final was played between Auberge du Jeu de Paume (fifth) and Kilreen (sixth). Justin Fogarty, captain of Kilreen polo team, was elected the most gentlemanly player of the tournament.

Eduardo expressed his thanks to Lawyers Polo’s event manager, Carolina Bérèterbide, for the excellent organisation of the numerous events in Paris and Chantilly during the 2012 tournament, and to Lawyers Polo sponsors, Emirates NBD Private Banking, Allen & Overy, Auberge du Jeu de Paume, Kilreen and La Martina. He added: ‘We also want to specially thank Patrick Guerrand-Hermès, Philippe Perrier and Benoît Perrier for their invaluable assistance.’ The organising team is already working on Lawyers Polo 2013 which, as always, will be held in another very special polo destination somehwere in the world.

Opposite Lawyers Polo players in Champ de Mars, Paris This page, above The black-tie welcome cocktail party at the George V Hotel, Paris Left Auberge du Jeu de Paume vs Kilreen