Paul Hastings Launches Global Sports Practice

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paul Hastings LLP today announced the launch of its global Sports practice, drawing on premier talent across its Chambers Band 1 Entertainment & Media practice, Band 1 Hospitality and Real Estate practices, premier M&A and finance practices and a broad range of other transactional, litigation and regulatory disciplines to advise investors, teams, leagues, governing bodies, broadcasting networks, esports and gaming companies, and other participants across the global sports ecosystem. The firm’s global sports platform is a natural extension of its Band 1-ranked Entertainment & Media practice, including partners Erik Hyman, Ken Deutsch and Sidney Fohrman, who deliver fully integrated advice on transactions, licensing, investments, financings and intellectual property matters for strategic participants across sports and entertainment.

"Sports has matured from a niche trophy asset into a growing asset class projected to be in the trillions, and clients navigating that shift need counsel who can match their sophistication and ambition across a broad and evolving spectrum of opportunities,” said firm Chair Frank Lopez. “Paul Hastings is uniquely positioned to holistically meet that demand through our market-leading entertainment, sports and media work and our deep relationships with the world's leading asset managers, sovereign investors and strategic operators, as well as many of the most prominent sporting teams and bodies around the world.”

The formal expansion into Sports reflects Paul Hastings’ ongoing investment in talent across its global platform in entertainment and media, M&A, private equity, fund formation, finance, hospitality, real estate, labor and employment and litigation and regulatory counseling. In May, the firm added elite sports M&A partner and Sports practice chair Mark Zerdin from Slaughter in London. A leading corporate M&A lawyer and the former co-head of Slaughter’s Sports practice, Zerdin brings deep experience advising sports teams and regulatory bodies, corporates, private equity firms and family offices on a wide range of transactions, including advising TWG Motorsports and General Motors on their successful application to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship under the name of Cadillac Formula 1 Team.

On the heels of Zerdin’s arrival, the firm added even more sports firepower this month by welcoming former Baltimore Ravens General Counsel Brandon Etheridge in Washington, D.C., and Sports and Investment Funds & Private Capital partner Chidi Oteh from Ropes & Gray’s Band 1-ranked Funds practice in Boston. Etheridge, who previously was NFL assistant labor relations counsel and also practiced at Covington in its Band 1-ranked Sports Law Group, brings an extensive network of general counsel and elite industry contacts and an insider’s perspective that uniquely positions him to counsel major athletic teams, sports leagues, asset managers and other sports-related clients through the lifecycle of sports investments and ownership. Oteh, meanwhile, brings significant experience – from both private practice and in-house roles with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer teams – advising a roster of world-class asset managers, funds and institutional investors, as well as teams and entities broadly in the sports sector such as the NFL, Golden State Warriors, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks, on a full range of matters touching professional and collegiate sports.

The recent additions further deepen Paul Hastings’ sports bench, which includes corporate partner Benjamin Stein in Boston, and M&A partner Tim Fesenmyer and global Hospitality & Leisure attorney Todd Fieldston in New York. The trio have considerable experience across the sports, entertainment and media landscape for diverse clients ranging from teams, leagues, corporates and investors to esports, gaming companies and other entities throughout the global sports market.

Paul Hastings’ global Sports practice brings deep industry experience and strategic dealmaking capabilities to investors, teams, leagues, brands, media companies and rights holders worldwide, positioning the firm to advise both investors entering the asset class and the teams, leagues and rights holders navigating alongside them on high-profile transactions, commercial partnerships, media rights, venue development and the technologies reshaping sports. The firm handles the full spectrum of sports-related matters, including traditional sports, such as MLB, the NFL, NBA, the NHL, FIFA and PGA Tour, and teams like the Golden State Warriors; multiple global football clubs, UFC and Formula 1; multimedia and technology companies like ESPN; secondary ticket marketplaces such as Vivid Seats; and leading gaming and esports companies like Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft.

About Paul Hastings

With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations. For more information, visit www.paulhastings.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260713979346/en/

Elliott Frieder
Chief Communications Officer
[email protected]

Source: Paul Hastings LLP

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