England - London • TMT (technology, media and telecoms)
Level Law
A diverse range of clients turn to Level Law for its ‘professional and knowledgeable’ approach across a host of sports law mandates. Morris Bentata is a key contact for sports media rights holders across football, basketball and horseracing, advising on production, commercial agreements, and digital licenses for major sporting competitions. Daniel Lowen and Liz Coley work with a number footballers, agents and agencies on contract renewals, transfers and contentious issues – including breaches of contracts and FA intermediary regulations. Beyond football, Lowen works with elite athletes across a number of sports who require advice on media rights, sponsorships and contractual issues, while Coley is noted for her experience in all manner of employment disputes. Tim Lowles focuses on litigation concerning media rights agencies and competition rights holders as well as disputes between governing bodies and its sponsors, most recently in the NFT space. Rowena Samarasinhe remains a key name to note, particularly for Olympic sports, while Victoria Evans’ expertise covers the contracting of professional golfers and tournament arrangements. The team has deepened its bench strength with the autumn 2022 arrivals of Jodie Seddon and John Reid from gunnercooke LLP and Russells Solicitors, respectively. Seddon, in particular, is noted for her work on anti-doping and safeguarding matters in basketball, hockey and equestrian sports. Fraser Reid, Dan Harrington and Alastair Campbell are further key members of the team.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘We have worked with Level Law for over ten years now. Their collective knowledge of the sports industry is absolutely vital to our business, and they are always our first point of call when we need legal services. The team at Level Law are not only professional and knowledgeable, they are all extremely personable and as such, always a pleasure to deal with.’
‘We primarily work with Dan Lowen and would not hesitate to recommend his services. Dan's industry expertise and experience is invaluable to us a company. We have complete confidence in his advice, judgement and ability to manage any situation on our behalf.’
'No matter the time or situation, Level will do their very best to promptly attend to any matter.’
‘Liz Coley will go above and beyond to help. Furthermore, she is extremely thorough and provides a service that is extremely high quality and detailed. She has my full trust, and I know our organization is indebted to Level and Liz for their brilliant work over the years.’
‘Level Law has very significant expertise in media rights, which combined with strong commercial outlook, makes for a great a legal service provision.’
‘Dan Harrington is arguably the best sports media rights lawyer in the UK. Tom Lowles is a high-class litigation lawyer.’
Key clients
- FIFA
- AFC
- UEFA
- DAZN
- CAA11
- Pitch
- Atalanta
- Astro
- Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
- Wesley Fofana
- Reece James
- LIV Golf Ltd
- FIBA
- Interregional Sports Group Limited
- RDA Television LLP
- Rugby Football Union
- Professional Squash Association
- British Mountaineering Council
Work highlights
- Advised FIBA and FIBA Media in relation to a variety of production agreements and media rights agreements around the world.
- Advising LIV Golf Ltd on pre-launch and actioning the contracting of professional golf players in connection with the set-up of the LIV Golf League.
- Advising on over 140 premier league transfers and new contracts during the Summer 2022 transfer window, including deals for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley and Reece James.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading individuals
Level Law
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
Level Law
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.
Next Generation Partners
Level Law
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.”
Level Law
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”.
Level Law
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.