Sports

In the sports industry, we advise a wide range of regulators, clubs, commercial organisations and financial institutions.

In recent years, we’ve been busy advising on:

the hosting of major sporting events
acquisitions
refinancing and tax issues
disputes, including sporting sanctions, doping cases and patents
sponsorship deals
sports retailing
employment, including recruitment and disputes
regulatory clearances
insurance.

We continue to advise the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games on a variety of London 2012 projects, as well as advising on several other forthcoming summer and winter Olympics and FIFA World Cups.

We have also advised the Welsh Rugby Union, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the English Football Association, Formula One Administration and various football clubs in the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A.

Practices

Below are the practice areas that we offer around the world

Antitrust, competition and trade

Antitrust, competition, regulatory and international trade issues are critical to business in a global economy.
With more than 245 Antitrust, Competition and Trade (ACT) lawyers in 15 countries, supported by our litigation practice, we are well placed to respond to global developments.
We advise clients across all sectors, including financial institutions and governments, on the complete range of ACT issues.
They include merger control, licensing and distribution, intellectual property, restrictive practices, abuse of dominance, cartel investigations and damages claims, compliance, state aid, liberalisation, privatisation, public procurement and trade.
Corporate
Our Corporate practice provides advice on many of the world’s largest and most complex transactions, embracing:
- public and private M&A
- joint ventures
- securities offerings
- private equity
We service international corporate and investment banking clients across our network of offices and practice.
Our Corporate lawyers work within our industry groups where they combine their legal skills with detailed sector knowledge. Sectors include technology, media and telecommunications, financial institutions, energy, chemicals, retail and transport.
Disputes
With more than 400 litigation lawyers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US, we can help our clients avoid and resolve complex disputes anywhere in the world.
Our team of 94 partners and over 300 associates resolves disputes quickly and effectively with minimal disruption to our clients’ business.
Our areas of work include:
- international arbitration
- environment, planning and regulatory
- global investigations
- product risk and liability
- professional negligence
- property
- public international law
- tax disputes
- US litigation
Employment, pensions and benefits

Our employment, pensions and benefits practice advises on employment and industrial relations law.
We help our clients navigate domestic and international issues, with emphasis on EU legislation.
We advise on M&A, regulatory disclosure, service contracts, work councils, severance, contracting out, confidentiality and restrictive covenants.
Our lawyers have particular experience in setting up pension schemes; restructuring pension arrangements; merging and winding up schemes; and pension disputes.
We also focus on employee share options; incentive schemes and profit-sharing; executive incentives and management buy-outs.
Finance
Our global finance practice is known for its skill in complex and structured finance.
More than 300 lawyers worldwide take on high-profile and challenging work with emphasis on structured products; securitisation; derivatives; banking; restructuring and insolvency; asset finance; project finance; and financial services.
Our lawyers work across our offices and with groups such as tax, property and financial services.
We cover:
- asset finance
- banking
- project finance
- restructuring and insolvency
- structured finance
Intellectual property and information technology
Our intellectual property and information technology (IP/IT) lawyers advise on contentious and non-contentious international IP and internet-related issues.
Our practice covers:
- brands and products
- patents and technology
- data protection and privacy
- telecommunications, media and technology
- outsourcing
- IP/IT transactional work
- pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare
Our team also advises on many complex and international IP/IT issues across transactional matters, including M&A, IPOs, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.
We act for financial, commercial and industrial clients in communications, IT, media, consumer products, healthcare and financial services sectors, among others.
Real estate

Our real estate network covers commercial property, and cross-border and domestic transactions.
We advise on tax efficiency; investment structures; limited partnerships; unit trusts; open and closed-ended funds; property finance; and ways of financing larger projects. We advise on environment, construction, planning and corporate law around the world too.
Our real estate group works with our tax, finance and corporate lawyers on areas that are often integral to major real estate projects.
Tax
Our Tax practice is built around the needs of clients who want high-quality advice and service on local and international tax issues.
With more than 140 Tax lawyers worldwide, including 45 partners and principal consultants, we tackle commercial tax issues that include:
Our Tax and Disputes teams have a market-leading reputation for resolving investigations and disputes and, for the fifth year running, we’ve been voted best corporate tax firm in Who’s Who Legal.