Sport

Harriet Leach is a Legal Director and Head of Women’s Football. Harriet is a senior corporate and commercial lawyer and is building a fierce reputation as a leading lawyer within women’s sport. Recent highlights include advising: England Netball on investment opportunities and all aspects of the launch of Netball Super League 2.0, including participation terms, governance, regulation and player matters; The ECB on potential investment in The Hundred, including corporate structuring and preliminary advice; World Rugby on its joint venture with Major League Rugby (MLR) in connection with the operation and governance of the Hawks, a new franchise competing in the MLR; Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) a new client on a range of commercial and regulatory matters, including commercial agreements and its remuneration cap; The ECB on the funding, operation and structuring of the pro women’s cricket, including the tender and documentation for “Project Darwin”; Six Nations Rugby on corporate structuring and preliminary advice in connection with the Nations Cup, a new international rugby competition to be owned and operated with SANZAAR. More Than Equal a new client on its inaugural driver development programme which aims to find and develop the first female F1 world champion; Several Women’s Championship football clubs, including Lewes F.C. on corporate structuring and investment plans and London City Lionesses on various player transfers, employment and data protection matters. Harriet hosted another event in her popular New Era Series for Women’s Sport series in partnership with DAZN, moderating a panel featuring Kelly Simmons OBE, Beth Barrett-Wild (ECB), Belinda Moore (PWR) and Anmol Malhotra (Snap Inc) in front of 150 participants to discover what it takes to operate an elite women’s sport league/competition as more turn professional and implement new corporate structures. Harriet won the award for “Contribution of Regulation/Services in Women’s Sport” at the Everything in Sport 2023 Awards. Harriet also speaks and writes regularly on topical issues within sport, including recently moderating a panel on “Governing the Game: The urgent need for reform” at Women in Football’s sold out Be Inspired Conference at Wembley and on Women’s Football at Law in Sport’s Football Law Conference 2023. Harriet co-authored the Chambers and Partners’ Guide for Sports Law 2021-2023. Harriet leads the firm’s partnership with Women In Football accelerating Onside Law’s ED&I ambitions.

Danielle Sharkey

Danielle advises on a range of contentious and non-contentious issues including breaches of Regulatory Rules, breaches of procedure, good governance, integrity, integrity education, welfare and doping. She has experience of prosecuting before Sports Disciplinary Tribunals, both in person and as junior to leading Counsel. Danielle is admitted to practice in England and Wales.

John Shea

Lewis Silkin

Managing Associate John is an experienced dispute resolution lawyer with a particular focus on the Sport Sector. As a dispute resolution lawyer, John has considerable experience of dealing with high value and complex commercial litigation in court proceedings as well as all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. John is deputy co-head of Lewis Silkin’s sports group and advises clients in the sports sector on a broad range of sports issues. His key clients include clubs, leading agencies and international athletes. The matters which he works on are often with an international element and being a Spanish speaker is particularly valuable to many clients.

Oliver Sadler

Centrefield LLP

Next Generation Partners

Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Ross Brown

Ross is particularly known for his regulatory dispute experience through acting for governing bodies, sports teams and individuals across various areas including anti-corruption, anti-doping, contractual, disciplinary, safeguarding and selection disputes. Ross regularly acts as lead advocate for his clients in their disputes. Ross has strong experience in acting for: World Rugby on its anti-doping caseload, including at CAS; The International Tennis Integrity Agency in over 60 proceedings under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, including before CAS on several occasions, as well as the Tennis Anti-Doping Program; The England and Wales Cricket Board in relation to its regulatory investigations involving racism in cricket, its anti-doping caseload before the National Anti-Doping Panel and various disciplinary and safeguarding proceedings; INEOS Grenadiers in relation to several anti-doping matters arising out of investigations of UK Anti-Doping and the General Medical Council as well as UCI disciplinary proceedings involving one of its riders; Various governing bodies and individuals in proceedings before the National Safeguarding Panel and related safeguarding investigations, including the Sheldon Report into allegations of child abuse in football; The British Horseracing Authority regarding an independent investigation into the buying and selling practices of bloodstock; and Two Olympic athletes in their appeal of their non-selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Liz Coley

Liz is a highly experienced sports lawyer, who offers clients an indepth understanding of the world of professional football. Liz had almost 20 years experience working for 4 professional football clubs and for The FA prior to qualification as a lawyer. Since that time she has worked exclusively in sports law, representing a large number of clubs in relation to player contracts and transfers, compliance and regulatory issues and disputes. She has undertaken secondments at both Premier League and Championship clubs, assisted clubs with the Club Secretary role when vacant and spent time with a number of clubs undertaking a contract health check and helping them to develop their own precedent documents. Her experience within club football gives her an unrivalled understanding of how clubs operate and their unique needs. She has also worked with intermediaries in relation to their representation of both players and managers/coaching staff. Liz is the co-author of the chapters on ‘Contracts – Players’ and ‘Player Transfers’ in the textbook ‘Football and the Law’. Independent testimonials include: “She’s someone we can trust. She has worked in football clubs and has a massive amount of football experience. She is really able to cut through everything and translate that. She has helped us do a few matters where we have been really up against deadlines. She does what needs to be done to make it happen, rather than doing too much.” “She’s very good. She has great experience from being in-house and is a pleasure to deal with.” “She is very knowledgeable on compliance. She’s ex-FA, so she understands it in terms of who we’re complying with. She’s practical and pragmatic in her approach.”

Richard Davies

Richard specialises in commercial contracts, with a particular focus on the sports and technology. Richard has particular expertise in sponsorship, personal endorsements, media rights, e-commerce and digital content. He has experience drafting and negotiating agreements for a range of businesses including start-ups, major UK PLCs, athletes and sports organisations.

Partner

Associate

Tim is a seasoned litigator with a broad range of experience handling contentious issues before numerous different judicial and non-judicial bodies. He advises upon all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration with a particular emphasis on sport, contentious media and reputation management issues for companies, institutions and high profile individuals. Tim has advised a large number of household names from the sporting world on various issues ranging from contractual disputes in the High Court to disciplinary proceedings before world governing bodies. He also has considerable experience advising on contentious data issues and the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The most recent editions of the legal directories call Tim “hugely impressive”.

Owen O'Rorke

Farrer & Co

Owen joined Farrer & Co in 2014 having spent five years at a boutique West End media firm, specialising in intellectual property matters (both contentious and non-contentious) and commercial contracts across the arts, technology and sports sectors, and experiencing a broad range of matters at a senior level, including high-value litigation, trade mark procedure, and regulatory work. Since joining he has been seconded to both the Lawn Tennis Association and the Natural History Museum. Owen works regularly with clients in the arts and cultural sectors, schools, and sports governing bodies. A significant part of his practice at Farrer & Co is data protection law, in both preparatory and reactive contexts.

Rowena Samarasinhe

Rowena is a commercial lawyer with over ten years of dedicated experience in the international sports industry having worked within a variety of sports, primarily Olympic sports and football. She specialises in the negotiation and implementation of international sponsorship and broadcast agreements and has worked with some of the largest global sports properties, concluding ground-breaking deals for sports bodies in addition to major endorsement deals with some of the most prolific athletes in the world. While practising as an in-house lawyer, Rowena gained a significant experience in rights protection, event operations, rights acquisitions and sales, and tender processes and bid evaluation. She has also worked closely with a number of international federations in the development of event documentation and governing regulations. Rowena also recently completed an MBA in International Sports Management and serves as a non-executive director for CIMSPA, the professional development body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector. Shortly before joining Level, Rowena was included in The 2018 Legal 500 “General Counsel Powerlist” recognising the most influential and innovative in-house lawyers around the world.

James Tobias

James specialises in advising clients at the intersect of sports, media and technology and has broad experience advising clients across the sports and media industries on all commercial matters. James has a particular expertise in media rights exploitation and distribution, the production and acquisition of content, high-value sponsorship and endorsement agreements and complex contractual joint venture arrangements. James also regularly advises clients on Web3 strategy, the application of digital technologies to the sports industry and the establishment and delivery of new sports tournaments and competitions. James advises a range of stakeholders across the sports, esports and media industries, including international federations, national governing bodies, clubs, brands, broadcasters, production companies, digital platform operators, technology start-ups, sponsorship agencies and influencers. Prior to joining Onside Law in 2019, James trained and worked in the Entertainment and Media Group at Reed Smith where he undertook multiple client secondments, giving him a valuable insight into the internal pressures and sensitivities facing clients and how to effectively advise them.

Sophie Wilkinson

Sophie has significant experience advising on staging and licensing agreements for major events, including: European Athletics FIA FIFA ECB SRO Motorsports World Rugby Davis Cup competition Sophie also has experience in connection with broadcasting and media rights, both from a rights’ holder and broadcaster perspective (notably for ATP Media, Sunset+Vine and International Sports Broadcasting). Sophie has particular expertise in data protection, advising various governing bodies, sports integrity units and other commercial clients on complex data protection issues. Sophie is a key member of the team leading the relationship with FIFA and the FIA.

Partner

Associate

Leading individuals

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Edward Craig

Edward has 20 years’ experience in advising a broad range of clients on high value, complex litigation often with an international dimension. His background and approach to litigation are grounded in his experience of advising household name retailers and other key clients of the firm, giving his advice a strong commercial edge. As head of the firm’s retail and leisure sector, he acts for an enviable array of major brands, however his broader commercial contentious practice includes advising sports regulatory bodies, companies and private individuals on a wide range of commercial disputes, including professional negligence matters.Recent cases have included dealing with a high value manufacturing dispute for a luxury brand, acting against professional service advisors for negligence, and representing clients against HMRC. Edward is a well known figure within the world of luxury brands, where he leads the firm's relationship with Walpole (the leading British luxury brands consortium) and is a regular advisor and contributor within that sector.Edward is admitted to practise in England and Wales.Experience highlights: Acting alongside other partners as External Administrator of an insolvent Middle Eastern bank in relation to alleged multi-billion dollar fraud Running a high value banking dispute involving a complex repurchase agreement for a financial product (CDO) Handling a dispute with HMRC and professional advisors in relation to the issue of advance payment notices relating to a film finance scheme Advising a regulatory body in relation to an arbitration

James Eighteen

Northridge Law LLP

James has for many years been a key advisor to governing bodies such as The FA, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the Greyhound Board of Great Britain and Premiership Rugby on a range of contentious and regulatory matters. In addition, James advises individuals and teams, regularly appearing before disciplinary panels, the High Court and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. His recent highlights include acting for the BHA on a series of high-profile anti-doping cases, advising Premiership Rugby on its investigation into Leicester Tigers for breaches of salary cap regulations (having previously led on the high-profile salary cap prosecution of Saracens) and advising Middlesbrough FC on their complex, and ground breaking, financial fair play arbitration proceedings against Derby County.

Mark Hovell

Mills & Reeve LLP

Mark’s role as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the last couple of decades has seen him involved in some high-profile cases, including his appointment to the 2016 Olympic ad hoc Division in Rio. He has now been involved in over 300 arbitrations. Mark was also re-appointed as an arbitrator on the Sport Resolutions Panel (Chairpersons List) in 2021 and is also a member of the National Anti-doping Panel. Mark continues to advise various sports union organisations including The Professional Footballers’ Association, The PGA and The Professional Players Federation. Mark has also represented a number of clubs, leagues and Governing bodies. He represents a number of high-profile sport and entertainment clients in negotiations relating to their image rights and marketability. Mark is a qualified insolvency practitioner and has been involved in over 60 formal and informal professional football, rugby and rugby league club insolvencies, including Portsmouth FC in 2010 and 2012. Mark was awarded the title Partner of the Year at the 2013 Manchester Legal Awards and received a special recognition award at the 2013 NW Football Awards. More recently he was the WWL International Sports lawyer of the Year in 2020. He is a lecturer/visiting professor on Sports Law and finance at numerous Universities and colleges around the world.

Alex Kelham

Lewis Silkin

Alex is a Partner, and the Head of Lewis Silkin's Sports Business sector group . She is a commercial and IP lawyer, specialising in the exploitation of commercial rights in sport. Her clients include federations, teams, events, athletes and venues, as well as brands and agencies. She advises on a wide range of sports marketing and commercial matters, including sponsorship, talent agreements, image rights, arrangements relating to the hosting of sports events, media rights, advertising regulation and brand protection. Alex benefits from a detailed understanding of copyright, trade marks and passing off but takes a very commercial approach to helping clients protect, exploit and enforce their IP assets. Alex is also leading global expert on ambush marketing and the special legislation that sports rights holders implement in relation to major events.

Adam Leadercramer

Adam acts for a broad range of clients including individuals, rightsholders, teams, agencies, brands and data-driven businesses. He has also spent time on secondment at the Rugby Football Union and the Lawn Tennis Association. Adam’s practice predominantly involves general commercial matters including supply of goods/services contracts, agreements relating to the exploitation of data, software and intellectual property rights and sponsorship/endorsement contracts. He has particular experience in the fields of technology, digital media and broadcasting.

Michael Lister

Partner

Thea Longley

Hall of fameBates Wells

Partner

Daniel Lowen

Dan is an experienced sports lawyer, recognised as a leading adviser in the football industry and across other sports. He acts for clients on a wide range of issues, from player transfers and commercial opportunities (including sponsorship and image rights arrangements) to disputes, regulatory and disciplinary matters. Dan’s clients include numerous talent management agencies and he advises international athletes throughout the sports industry, from talented young stars of the future through to global icons. He also acts for English and overseas clubs, governing bodies, leagues, event organisers, sponsors and suppliers on a variety of commercial, contentious and regulatory issues. Dan regularly speaks at conferences and is the author of the chapters on the FA’s Regulations on Working with Intermediaries in the textbooks ‘Football and the Law’ and ‘The FIFA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries: Implementation at National Level’. Independent testimonials include: “Dan is ‘a true expert’ in the field of sports law. He is praised for his ‘impressive’ commercial and regulatory understanding” … “His talent-side work is first class” - Who's Who Legal, Sports and Entertainment “Dan is recognised for his standing in the football market. In addition to a thriving regulatory and disciplinary practice, he boasts exceptional knowledge of the rules surrounding the activities of intermediaries” - Chambers & Partner “Daniel Lowen has an exceptionally high degree of knowledge, experience and industry expertise, yet is always personable and very pleasant to deal with.” - Legal 500

Jody Macdonald

Jody MacDonald is a leading commercial and IP lawyer in the sports sector, with over 15 years experience in the industry. His clients include governing bodies, leagues, event owners, athletes, sponsors and sports technology businesses. He advises on a wide range of commercial matters, including: media rights, sports data, sponsorship, major events, technology and digital services and other large/complex commercial contracts. Jody is known as a leading advisor to clients operating at the intersection of sport, media and technology looking for new ways to engage fans and generate revenue. His clients range from innovative start-ups to blue chip brands and international sports federations. Named as a Leading Individual for TMT (Sport) in The Legal 500 (Legalease) UK 2023 Guide, Jody is also a Director of the British Association for Sport & Law and lectures on “Sports Data Commercialisation” on De Montford University’s Sports Law Post Grad course.

Bob Mitchell

Bob has been a dedicated sports lawyer and head of the firm’s Sports Group for more than 20 years. He has significant expertise and experience in advising sports focussed clients on both commercial and regulatory issues.Bob has particular experience in negotiating and providing advice on the terms of commercial sports agreements including sponsorship, participation, staging, promoter and venue agreements, and advising on sports regulatory and disciplinary issues. He advises a cross-section of sports-related clients on a comprehensive range of legal issues. Bob’s clients include governing bodies, national and international sports rights owners, sports marketing and management agencies and some of the leading international brands that regularly acquire sports marketing rights. His experience also includes advising a number of leading sportsmen on the exploitation and protection of both their commercial and playing rights. Bob is also well known for advising national and international player associations.

Andrew Osborne

Lewis Silkin

Partner. A key member of the Sports Group and Head of Immigration. Specialises in business and personal immigration including applications under the Points Based System and the strategic issues arising from the restrictions on skilled migration. The sports practice focuses on player transfer work and sporting disputes. Contributor to Butterworths Sports & Law Practice.

Julian Pike

Farrer & Co

Julian heads Farrer & Co's reputation management practice. He has more than 20 years' experience of advising high profile individuals, corporations and institutions who find themselves the subject of attention, whether from mainstream media, online attacks or campaigning/ obsessed individuals. Often Julian will work with public relations advisers, in-house and external, to achieve the best outcomes. This recognises that the law has its limitations, but also that there is a need to take account of the client's long term business and strategic interests, as well as dealing with immediate issue. Having also represented major UK media organisations throughout his career, Julian knows the "art of the possible" and how best this is achieved.

Matthew Pryke

Hamlins LLP

Matthew is the Managing Partner at Hamlins and leads the Commercial and Sport teams. Matthew is recognised as an expert in intellectual property law, IT and commercial matters, particularly in the media, sports, entertainment and creative industries. He has extensive experience in developing, protecting and implementing commercial rights programmes for a large number of sports, media and entertainment organisations and events, advising on strategic intellectual property, IT and media rights strategies. Matthew is renowned for his knowledge and understanding of brand protection strategies having advised on the use of terms such as “FINE”, “GRAND PRIX”, “NEW LOOK”, and “FABÉRGE”. Matthew has developed a substantial practice and loyal client following and advises clients on a range of creative and entertainment industries such as television, modelling and sports and has acted for some of London’s biggest names in the bar, restaurant and nightclub arenas. He also has a solid client following in the technology sector. Matthew’s practice covers a wide variety of contracts, often of a global or an international nature. He also has particular expertise in the structuring, negotiation and protection of licensing and franchise arrangements. He has worked previously as an in-house lawyer and has a unique understanding of the fast pace and requirements of commerce. Matthew was legal counsel for A1 Grand Prix, the brainchild of a prominent member of the Dubai Royal Family. Matthew acts for leading names in sport and supports clients on the launch of innovative sports projects. His experience in sports events management, broadcast and promoter agreements, commercial arrangements, sponsorships, regulatory issues and player transfers, coupled with his strong relationships with sportspeople and agents, means he is recognised as a genuine market leader in the sports industry. Matthew is also a Notary Public and a member of The Notaries Society. Matthew writes as a legal expert for many publications and has appeared on Sky News.

Jason Saiban

Jason is a commercial contracts specialist, with a focus on TMT, sport, and retail and leisure. In TMT, he has particular expertise in outsourcing, managed services, logistics, procurement and licensing, and acts for a number of software developers and procurers of technology. In sport, Jason has significant experience in sponsorship, digital media, merchandising, endorsements and event management work. He is the relationship partner for a number of the firm’s key sports clients, ranging from international sports brands to leading sports agencies. His retail practice is focused on franchising, distribution, supply and logistics. Clients in the retail space include brands, restaurant chains and manufacturers. Jason’s client base ranges from large multinationals to start-ups and entrepreneurs. He regularly speaks at conferences, particularly on sponsorship matters.

Jamie Singer