Football: Law Society threatens legal action as association considers ending exemption

The Football Association (FA) faces the threat of legal action from the Law Society over its plans to make lawyers advising players subject to the same rules and disciplinary procedures as agents.


Under the current regime, solicitors and barristers are 'exempt individuals' and do not have to be licensed agents. Revised regulations agreed by the FA board earlier this month will require them to become the new category of registered agent.


Subject to approval by the FA Council, the package of changes - which also includes a requirement for overseas agents to register for the first time - is expected to come into force before the January 2007 transfer window.


A spokesman for the Law Society's representation arm said: 'We do not believe there is any justification for removing the long-standing exemption for solicitors from the FA's licensing regime. Solicitors are already fully regulated by the Law Society. If the FA Council approves the rules in this form, we will immediately consider legal action to challenge its decision.'


Mel Stein, a consultant at London firm Clintons, who helped block a previous attempt by the FA to exercise jurisdiction over lawyers in 1996, said: 'It's a blatant restraint of trade. Solicitors are regulated by the Law Society and don't need to be regulated by anybody else.'


Mr Stein said one of the many problems with the proposals is that the registration would be personal, meaning that he would be unable, for example, to ask one of his associates to handle a transfer for a player client while he was on holiday if the associate was not himself registered.


Dominic Farnsworth, a partner in the sports law group at City firm Lewis Silkin, said that, as far as he was aware, none of the people involved in ongoing investigations by the FA into agents' behaviour - part of the reason for the crackdown - is a solicitor. 'The law is a heavily regulated profession already and you can see why some lawyers are not happy,' he said.


However, Mr Farnsworth added that as a licensed football agent himself, he found the qualification a good marketing tool.


A spokesman for the FA said constructive discussions with the Law Society about the proposals are ongoing, but declined to comment further.


A spokeswoman for the Law Society Regulation Board added that the FA had insisted that the registration process would be 'a fairly minimal requirement'.