About Approach Areas of Work Founder Insights Contact

Governance · Integrity · Leadership

Independent counsel for
leaders in international sport

When the stakes are institutional — reputation, accountability, the credibility of sport itself — leaders need an advisor who has led through exactly these moments. The Leading Standard offers senior, independent counsel to organizations in international sport navigating governance, integrity and reform.

Discover

About

A trusted voice in international sport governance

The Leading Standard is the independent advisory practice of Alex McLin — international sports lawyer, arbitrator, and former international federation CEO. Three decades of senior roles inside the sport system inform the work: as Chief Executive and Secretary General of an Olympic International Federation, founding Director of an independent ethics foundation, member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, contributor to governance reform initiatives across the Olympic Movement and founding lead of an independent safeguarding unit at the FIFA Foundation.

Mandates are taken on selectively, on the principle that senior judgment cannot be delegated. Engagements are confidential, independent of institutional and commercial interests, and grounded in a working knowledge of how international sport is actually governed — its structures, its political dynamics, and the trust it must earn.

Approach

How the work is done

The work spans three complementary modes — advisory mandates, contributions to public debate, and reform initiatives — chosen to fit the question, not the model.

I

Senior Advisory

Direct, confidential counsel to leaders and boards — governance reviews, institutional reform, integrity and safeguarding architecture, crisis governance. Engagements are senior-led from start to finish.

II

Thought Leadership

Publications, interviews and lectures on the institutional challenges facing international sport — from governance reform and safeguarding to the independence of ethics systems.

III

Reform Initiatives

Contributions to collaborative reform across federations — governance benchmarking, safeguarding frameworks, and the design of independent oversight bodies in international sport.

Areas of Work

Four principal domains

Select an area to see relevant experience and the kinds of mandates undertaken.

Founder

Alex McLin

Alex McLin

Principal · Attorney-at-Law (New York) · CAS Arbitrator

Alex McLin is an international sports lawyer, arbitrator and governance executive based in Lausanne. Over three decades he has held senior roles spanning international federations, independent oversight bodies, sports arbitration, and the wider Olympic Movement — most recently leading the independent Safe Football Support Unit (YourSide) at the FIFA Foundation.

He was Chief Executive of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the founding Director of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, and Executive Director of the Swiss Arbitration Association. He chaired the IOC Boxing Unit for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and has served on the governance reform task forces of ASOIF and World Athletics. He sits as an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and the American Arbitration Association, with more than one hundred appointments to date.

Earlier in his career he was General Counsel of CNET Networks' European operations in Switzerland, a litigation and arbitration associate at Baker & McKenzie in New York, and a Program Manager at the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

Current Roles

  • Court of Arbitration for Sport Listed Arbitrator 2013–present
  • ICC International Court of Arbitration · AAA Arbitrator
  • International Masters Games Association Board Member 2022–present
  • FISA / World Rowing Ethics Advisory Group Member 2015–present
  • Badminton World Federation Referral Officer 2017–present

Selected Past Roles

  • FIFA Foundation — YourSide Unit Lead, Safe Football Support Unit 2025–2026
  • ASOIF Governance Task Force Member 2015–2025
  • ASOIF Legal Commission Member 2010–2026
  • International Olympic Committee Chair, Paris 2024 Boxing Unit 2022–2024
  • Gymnastics Ethics Foundation Director (CEO) — founding 2019–2025
  • Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) Executive Director 2012–2021
  • Fédération Equestre Internationale CEO & Secretary General 2005–2011
  • IAAF / World Athletics Governance & Integrity Reform Working Group · Legal Commission 2016–2019
  • International Weightlifting Federation Chair, Anti-Doping Pool 2016–2017
  • CNET Networks Channel Services (now CBS Interactive) General Counsel · Associate VP · Board Member 2000–2004
  • World Economic Forum Program Manager & Consultant 1993–1999

Education

Profile

  • Nationalities Switzerland · United States
  • Languages
    English Français Español
  • Bar Admission New York
  • Memberships ASA — Swiss Sports Law Association

A dual Swiss–US national educated in Geneva, working in three languages — at home in the multicultural, neutral environment of international sport based in Lausanne.

Insights

Thought leadership & publications

Selected commentary on governance, integrity and the changing institutional landscape of international sport.

PwC Global Sports Survey · 9th Edition · May 2026

From compliance mindset to integrity culture in sport

In an executive interview for PwC's 9th edition Global Sports Survey, Alex McLin reflects on how the conversation around sporting integrity has moved over the past decade from a niche compliance concern to a central question of governance:

"Ten years ago, integrity was often treated as a compliance requirement, something to be acknowledged but rarely championed. Over time, however, the landscape has shifted."

The interview argues that despite real advances — more dedicated integrity units, greater transparency, the rising influence of whistleblowers — a structural gap persists between the magnitude of the risks and the investment in the systems designed to prevent them. The piece closes on the case for treating integrity not as a regulatory overhead but as the foundation of credibility in sport itself.

Read the interview in the PwC Global Sports Survey →

Selected Publications & Speaking

  • "From compliance mindset to integrity culture in sport" — Executive interview, PwC Global Sports Survey, 9th Edition. May 2026
  • Guest Lecturer, "Leading with Integrity: Navigating Ethical Challenges in the Future of Sport — the Case of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation," MAiSI Graduation Symposium, Leuven. September 2024
  • Guest Lecturer, "Monitoring Good Governance and Ethical Principles in Practice: The Example of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation," Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO), Mainz. March 2023
  • Panellist, "Safe Sport and Human Rights," International Federation Forum, Lausanne. November 2022
  • Speaker, "Forging a Responsible Sport Leadership & Culture," Centre for Sport & Human Rights Sporting Chance Forum. October 2021
  • Speaker, "Achieving Systematic Safeguarding and Support in Gymnastics," Centre for Sport and Human Rights Symposium, ISPCAN Congress. June 2021
  • Keynote speaker, "Assessing Progress on the Road to Improved Sports Governance Culture," Geneva International Sports Convention. December 2016
  • Keynote speaker, "Worthiness: What Will It Take to Govern World Sport in the Coming Years?," Geneva International Sports Convention. December 2014
  • "Fédérations sportives — Gouvernance: la fin d'une époque?" (with Mikael Rentsch), Jurisport. April 2011
  • "Systematizing Good Governance," XIII Olympic Congress Contributions, p. 326. September 2009
  • "The ICRC: An Alibi for Swiss Neutrality?," Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law, Vol. 9. Spring 1999

Contact

Begin a conversation

The Leading Standard takes on mandates selectively. Enquiries are treated with discretion.

Get in Touch
aml@leadingstandard.com
Maison du Sport International · CP 1051 · CH-1001 Lausanne