Bird & Bird LLP

Bird & Bird LLP maintains a strong reputation in the international sports sector, with a large, dedicated team of lawyers working full-time across the whole spectrum of contentious and non-contentious work. The practice is known for its deep bench of sports law specialists, including experts in regulatory disputes, disciplinary matters, commercial agreements, media rights, and governance issues. The firm acts for a broad range of major stakeholders, with notable clients including FIFA, World Athletics, World Rugby, and the Premier League. Robert Turner leads many of the practice’s major commercial mandates, acting as a relationship partner to Arsenal and Chelsea. The vastly experienced Jonathan Taylor and Max Duthie handle many of the team’s contentious mandates, which include some of sport’s most high-profile and complex litigations, including acting on all rugby disciplinary cases arising out of the Six Nations and Autumn Internationals. Craig Giles drives the firm’s thriving media rights offering and leverages business as well as contributing to significant sponsorship, event and commercial partnership transactions. Richard Bush is a safeguarding expert, whilst Andrew Danson has particular expertise in the gambling sector.