Legal team

Talk to many sports lawyers, and they’re likely to reveal how they mostly stumbled into sports, but it’s no accident that sports has evolved into a specialty in the legal profession. Sports lawyers hold a rising level of influence as deals become more complex and the risks more pronounced, whether it’s drawing up a local sponsorship, lobbying to secure public funding for a development project, or detailing components of a media rights deal. In the stories that follow, meet some of the lawyers who have made names for themselves in sports and see why they are worth watching in the years ahead.

CHUCK BAKER
Partner, DLA Piper, New York

JARED BARTIE
Counsel, Arent Fox, New York

STOKE CALDWELL
Partner at Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, Charlotte

JACK BAIR
Senior vice president and general counsel, San Francisco Giants

KEVIN WARREN
VP of legal affairs and chief administrative officer, Minnesota Vikings

AYALA DEUTSCH
Senior vice president, chief intellectual property counsel, NBA

LAWRENCE EPSTEIN
Executive vice president and general counsel, UFC

WOODIE DIXON
General counsel and vice president of business affairs, Pac-12 Conference

DON REMY
General counsel and vice president of legal affairs, NCAA

FRED NANCE
Cleveland Browns general counsel; partner, Squire Sanders

MARIE DONOGHUE
Senior vice president, global strategy, business development and business affairs, ESPN