The Sports Consultancy Legal Launches
The Sports Consultancy Legal has launched as part of the London-based specialist sports and events agency, The Sports Consultancy, shortlisted for Agency of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2017.
The launch of a standalone, regulated legal practice is the next step in the business’ offering and – according to the agency – comes in response to increasing sophistication of client needs across the sport industry and The Sports Consultancy’s client base.
The establishment of The Sports Consultancy Legal provides the opportunity for the business to offer a wider range of commercial, operational, governance, contentious and investigatory legal support to the agency’s collection of rights holder, major event, venue and city clients.
The new legal practice will be headed by The Sports Consultancy’s general counsel, Ashley Blake, who will be supported by a team of sports lawyers from international private practice and major sports events in-house teams.
Commenting on the launch, Blake said: “The launch of The Sports Consultancy Legal provides a truly unique offering within the market. By embedding a law firm within our market-leading agency of commercial consultants and salespeople, we will enable our clients to benefit from expert legal services incorporating our deep understanding of their commercial, operational and regulatory challenges and those of the wider sport industry.
“As far as we are aware, The Sports Consultancy is the first sports marketing and consulting agency to launch its own specialist law firm. We are really excited to be able to offer this unique service to our clients.”
Co-founder and joint managing director, Robert Datnow added: “Legal expertise has always been central to The Sports Consultancy’s offering with lawyers fully integrated across the business allowing us to combine technical excellence with unrivalled commercial and strategic know-how and expertise in the sport industry.
“Our expanded offering further showcases our innovative approach to providing smart solutions to the complex commercial challenges of our clients.”
Paul Hardy, competition and events director at the IAAF – a client of The Sports Consultancy – commented: “The legal team at The Sports Consultancy have combined technically excellent legal advice with an in-depth understanding of sport and the issues facing major international events. Their experience, commitment and practical approach has been a real asset in our recent project concerning a number of the IAAF’s 2020 events.”
