Who? Mark Buckley, 46-year-old partner and head of sports law at London firm Fladgate Fielder.


Why is he in the news? Acted for Crystal Palace Football Club and its high-profile owner, Simon Jordan, on a successful claim for fraudulent misrepresentation against former manager Iain Dowie.



Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled in the High Court that the club had released Mr Dowie from his employment contract on 22 May 2006 based on untrue representations that he had not been in contact with Charlton Athletic, and by implication had no intention at that stage of joining Palace's rival. Mr Dowie was unveiled as Charlton's manager on 30 May. Claims that Mr Dowie had falsely represented that the only reason for wishing to leave Palace was to move to the north of England for family reasons were not proved.



The judge ruled that the compromise agreement signed by the club and Mr Dowie (now manager of Coventry City) should not be rescinded, and 'practical justice' meant appropriate orders should be made for damages or other financial relief. A separate hearing will be held this week on costs and to make directions for dealing with the issue of damages.



Mr Dowie said he was pleased that Crystal Palace's case for rescission had been rejected but added he was 'naturally disappointed' that the judge had ruled against him on the other issue raised.



Background: Law Society finals at what is now Northumbria University, training at Coleman & Betts in Kingston, Surrey. Qualified in 1985 and joined Lincoln's Inn firm Campbell Park. Moved to Fladgate Fielder in 1988 and became a partner in 1990.



Route to the case: 'Crystal Palace and Mr Jordan are existing clients of the firm. We have done a number of Football Association (FA) arbitrations and disciplinary work for the club and Mr Jordan previously.'



Thoughts on the case: 'Most football cases are dealt with within the sport, through the FA or the Premier League as appropriate. It is unusual to have these disputes dealt with through the courts [but] in essence it was a tortious claim.



'It was bitterly fought, as the judge said, with serious allegations made by both parties. There were some interlocutory applications for disclosure, third-party disclosure and further information (such as telephone records) which turned out to be quite important.



'In the end it was good to have a judge who was interested in the evidence rather than the side issues, such as what people were saying in the press.'



Dealing with the media: 'We have done quite a lot of motor sport cases which have been very high profile. If it is a sports law case, the journalists are genuinely interested in the story and are not trying to catch you out.'



Philip Hoult