Sports

Sectors

Sports 
Overview

Our sports lawyers provide professional athletes and owners, managers and prospective buyers of sports institutions, venues, teams and clubs with comprehensive legal support.

This typically involves advising on a mixture of employment (player contracts, transfers, disciplinary), commercial (sponsorship agreements, advertising, supplier contracts), immigration (relocation of players and their families), real estate (sale, purchase and leasing of property), intellectual property (brand protection, image rights, trademarks), corporate (acquisition and disposal of clubs, finance) and family (prenups, relationship breakdowns) law matters, according to our clients’ specific requirements.

We explain all legal documents, processes and options available to you in a straightforward language, so that you can make informed decisions. We then focus on executing your instructions in coordination with your wider advisory team, and securing your rights without losing sight of commerciality.

Service Highlights

Please click on a service highlight to learn more about how we help with these matters. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, you can contact us using the contact form below.

Buying and selling teams

We act for the buyers and sellers of sports clubs. Our support spans the entire sale and purchase process – from heads of terms and due diligence through to negotiating and executing the transaction itself, as well as any change of control and fit and proper process with the governing body. We advise and help you make informed decisions every step of the way, drawing upon the extensive expertise that exists within our corporate, employment, real estate, IP, tax and wider teams, as required.
Sportsperson representation

We provide full legal support and representation for sports people in all manner of commercial agreements (such as brand ambassador agreements and commercialising image rights), dealings and disputes with clubs and agents (including disciplinaries and investigations), and personal affairs (most commonly, relating to real estate, family law, tax and immigration). We have particular experience of working closely with football, rugby and Formula 1 professionals.
Staff and player contracts, loans and transfers

We advise on, negotiate and prepare contracts covering all types of working arrangements at all levels of team hierarchy, from board and management to coaching, playing and other staff. We also assist in relation to disciplinary procedures, enforcing restrictive covenants, contract breaches, dismissals and liability for unfair and wrongful dismissal. We prepare settlement agreements and, in the event of any claims, provide effective employment tribunal representation at court and during arbitration proceedings.
Sponsorship deals

We help you to negotiate and agree terms for kit sponsorship deals and stadium-naming rights and record them in written agreements. We make sure the legal paperwork fully reflects your commercial expectations of the arrangements, including duration, payments (basic and any bonus payments triggered by achievement of any objectives) and each party’s rights and obligations.
Trademark applications and management

We can assist with the registration of UK and European trademarks. Our team also helps with registrations across the rest of the world, thanks to the worldwide connections that exist within our wider Burlingtons Group.

Service Areas

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Key contacts

Our Experts

Key contact

Paramjit Sehmi

Partner, Head of Corporate

Paramjit advises businesses, business owners and investors on a broad range of corporate, commercial and company law matters. He has…
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