Name: Keith Carroll
Position: Mintz Levin -- Sports Industry Practice Group Chair
Age: 47
Where I’m from: Stratford, Conn.
Where I call home: Needham, Mass.
Focusing on right now: We’re dealing with CrossFit and their case against the National Strength & Conditioning Association, which basically was blasting CrossFit about how injurious they were. We’ve been having some success there.
Best advice: My dad always said your word is your bond, so if you say something, you back it up. There also were a number of lawyers who helped me coming up, so another thing that’s a big part of my ethos is to pay it forward and find ways to give back to people who maybe don’t have the same opportunities I did.
Execs I admire: I worked for Senator JOE LIEBERMAN as an intern way back. STAN TWARDY, who is a lawyer at another firm in Connecticut. Also CHRIS DRONEY, who I clerked for when he was a U.S. District Judge. And my father, who is somebody with whom I definitely lean on and talk out issues.
Must have for a new hire: I used to be the hiring partner here, and I would look for people who had a certain degree of self-autonomy and take ownership of projects and can be good team players. If I’m going to be in here late grinding on something, I want to like the people I’m working with. I would much rather take somebody who maybe has a little bit stronger grit, someone willing to overcome challenges.
Book shelf: I love military books. I’m a huge STEPHEN AMBROSE fan. I think I’ve read everything he’s written. And then DICK WINTERS, who was kind of the leader of the group in “BAND OF BROTHERS.” He’s got these 10 principles of leadership at the point of the bayonet. It’s fascinating about brotherhood and sacrifice and about digging in. Those principles apply everywhere.
Must-have music: U2, LITTLE FEET, JACK JOHNSON. Depending on if I’m working out or running, JAY Z or EMINEM.
First thing in the morning: I have four kids. My oldest is about to turn 13, and my youngest is 6. Three girls and a boy. So usually I try and get some form of exercise in when I’m properly motivated. But if I’m not doing that, I drive my kids to school.
Talking tech: Being able to stream things live is huge. My biggest thing I watch in my downtime is sports, so being able to watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals on my iPad instead of having to sit in front of your television is great. Being freed up to watch and take your content wherever you are.
Food for thought: If there was one food I had to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pizza. But living up here, seafood is huge, and I enjoy a good steak. Del Frisco's here is good, and then anything in the North End, which is all Italian.
How I unwind: Hanging out with my kids. My three daughters, they all play soccer, two of them play lacrosse and my son plays flag football. He’s picking up baseball now, so I’ll go to their games. In the summers we go down to the cape and hang out on the boat, take the kids out water skiing or tubing. That’s always a fun thing.
Day in the life: We formally organized our sports practice in January of ’16 but had been in the space for a while before that. I kept saying we need to get our own sports group because we’re doing more in this space without having a sports group than some firms that do have one. We did the tax and public finance piece for Yankee Stadium and consulted with the Mets on Citi Field. We’ve represented 76ers and Devils Managing Owner JOSH HARRIS and some side projects for the Kraft Group. We were doing a lot of work for Boston ’24. Now we’re doing some work for LA 2024.
