Litigation and reputation management in sport

Well-versed in interpreting the rules of sports organisations, we have developed niche expertise in the areas of sports litigation and defamation/ reputation management. 

We advise on the full range of disputes including breach of contract and negligence, through to property and agency disputes. We can also help manage any PR and reputational challenges which arise. 

Working across all sports disciplines, we advise on disputes involving selection for international competition, injunctions against governing bodies, allegations of misappropriation of transfer fees, rule changes, constitutional changes, and disciplinary issues, as well as successfully removing online defamatory material.

Experience

• British Sub-Aqua Club and British American Football Association – Advising on defamation and reputation management matters. 
• An NGB – Advising in relation to an athlete selection dispute with an international sports federation. 
• EFC – Advising EFC as the defendant to High Court proceedings, whereby the claimant sought damages arising from an alleged breach of an agreement to source a purchaser for the majority shareholding in EFC. Successfully defending the £5.2m claim at trial and successfully resisting an application for permission to appeal. 
• A Premier League football club – Defending multi-million pound claims brought against a Premier League club by a national contractor arising out of its construction and refurbishment of a football stadium. 
• A former Premier League football club manager – Advising in relation to multi-million pound claims concerning player transfers. 
• Sporting organisations – Advising on the content of TV scripts, when discussing potentially contentious topics, to avoid any potential defamation. 
• A professional sports team – Successfully convincing a major Sunday newspaper to review and tone down the publication of potentially defamatory material regarding our client, having been instructed within half an hour of the paper going to press. 
• Sporting personalities and celebrities – Advising on the law of defamation and removing online defamatory material. 
• Professional athletes – Acting for professional athletes in claims against local development and construction companies arising out of various construction projects.
• Leading sports club – Advising a leading sports club on matters pertaining to a defamatory billboard publication about it and taking suitable action to mitigate damage and pursue the wrongdoer.
• Football club ex-Chairman – Successfully removing a potentially damaging statement made about an ex-chairman of a football club within 10 hours of instruction.
• Sports PR and celebrity agency – Advising a sports PR and celebrity agency on defamation in relation to social media.