They are in the middle of the biggest deals in sports, have access to the top executives and offer some of the sharpest, brightest minds in the business. The attorneys providing outside counsel to the sports industry not only help shape the current landscape but also will be the leaders of tomorrow — look no further than Paul Tagliabue, David Stern and Gary Bettman. We set out to look at the power firms and lawyers shaping today’s deals, those who are deeply involved in the sports business to those serving a more niche, focused speciality.
Over the last few months, we have talked to hundreds of industry executives for their viewpoints on the power players in outside counsel who are doing meaningful work and playing significant roles in sports business. League, team, media or any form of in-house counsel was not considered for our list.
We ended up with a list of 59 attorneys representing 33 firms, covering such key areas as mergers and acquisitions, finance, media, labor, litigation, sponsorship, compliance and governance.
We have separated the lawyers into four distinct groups to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their representation: Chairman’s Club, Elite, Premier and Executive.
