Sing when you're suing

It is often the case that when sport manages to make the move from the back to the front pages of newspapers, it is to report alleged bad behaviour.Football, in particular, is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons at the moment, and the average member of the public is more likely to have heard about recent crowd violence or a player's bad behaviour off the pitch than Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal-scoring heroics or Leicester City's struggle with relegation.Lawyers have been embroiled in recent debacles also.

The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors recently received complaints, which have yet to be determined - about former Leeds United director Peter McCormick - senior partner of Leeds firm McCormicks - and Manchester firm Freeman & Co, alleging conflicts of interest following their respective advice to Leeds players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate in their recent trial (see [2002] Gazette, 17 January, 1).However, the demand for lawyers in these darker times has never been greater.An example of the increasing significance of football players and clubs to law firms is Hammond Suddards Edge's continuing expansion into the field.

Having absorbed a well-regarded team through its merger with Birmingham firm Edge Ellison, Hammonds last year merged with London firm Townleys - at the time the only specialist sports law firm in Europe - to create the 'biggest sports team in Europe, possibly the world', says the firm's spiel.Ex-Townley lawyer Andrew Korman, now partner and head of the football group at Hammonds, says: 'We now have 25 lawyers in our sports group dealing with areas such as litigation and finance.

We deal with rugby, tennis and cricket, but football is by far our biggest earner.'He says that despite the popular conception that football is a big earner for lawyers, it is 'minuscule in City terms', but its high profile has undoubtedly brought a whole new raft of legal issues and problems with it.Mr Korman says that despite being a relevant issue for only the top 5% of professional football players, the ownership of image rights is the current hot topic for lawyers involved in football.

He names ex-England captain David Platt and Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp as two players he has worked with on this issue.'They both set up separate companies to deal with their image rights, which was held not to be a tax dodge and perfectly legal,' he says.

'However, these were both in a foreign jurisdic-tion and would not necessarily be legitimate in the UK.'Mr Korman explains that the problem arises because British players can market themselves in three separate capacities.

He says: 'If you take Michael Owen as an example, his image can be used in a personal, club and international capacity.

These must be kept separate, so he cannot advertise Jaguar, who he is personally signed to, in an England or Liverpool kit.'One way around the problem is for the club to buy the image rights - but this can be expensive.

'Real Madrid did this when buying Zinedine Zidane,' Mr Korman says.

'But this meant that on top of the transfer fee of 30 million, they had to pay the same again in endorsement rights.'As reported last month (see [2001] Gazette, 6 December, 6), image rights is one of the issues under discussion between the Professional Footballers Association - advised by John Hewison of Manchester-based George Davies - and the clubs as they negotiate a new standard player's contract together.

Michael Jepson, a partner at London firm Gordon Dadds, is leading the legal work for the clubs as a member of the Premier League legal working party.However, Nick Bitel, partner at London firm Max Bitel Greene and chairman of the British Association of Sport and Law, says that even if an agreement is reached between the two parties, this may not be the panacea everyone is hoping for.'I think the issue should be dealt with as a separate matter,' he says.

'You can't deal with the image rights of Beckham and Owen the same way you would deal with those of a player in the lower leagues.'Mr Bitel - who can list Arsenal's Nigerian international Kanu and Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri among his clients - says a more pressing, contractual matter for lawyers to consider is that of the new rules recently brought in by the football world governing body, FIFA, concerning a player's freedom to move club while under contract.He explains: 'On 30 September last year, a rule was introduced stating that players can walk away from a contract after only a couple of years, while still bound by it, as long as they face a sporting sanction.

There are different technical details depending on the age of the player concerned, but the sanction basically means you can't play professional football for four months.

Every club involved in a transfer deal must bear this in mind now.'Mel Goldberg, lawyer for the controversial Stan Collymore and the uncontroversial Kenny Dalglish, is about to join Mr Bitel's London firm from London-based Grower Freeman & Goldberg.

He says an increasing amount of legal work results from professional players' behaviour in their own time - he is in the process of acting for an unnamed footballer following alleged misbehaviour off the field.'Young players are getting more and more money, and have more and more spare time,' he says.

'The media are also looking to report incidents and casting a far closer spotlight on individual behaviour in public.'A separate examination of players'- and managers' - behaviour is being debated at the moment, according to Mr Goldberg, in the shape of how critical they can be of referees.'It is under discussion whether it is sensible for referees to sue players and managers for defamation when they are over-critical of their performance.

It would be perfectly acceptable in other walks of life, although I feel it may be a bit dangerous as it could open the floodgates.'Discipline of players on the field can be just as costly as what they do off it, though, says Mr Korman.

'There is an increasing role for lawyers in players' disciplinary proceedings,' he says.

'There is now a higher incidence of clubs appealing over suspensions, as they don't want to see three weeks' wages go down the pan if a player has to be inactive for that time.

They now have TV evidence to back them and so have a better chance of getting a decision overturned.'However, Mr Korman says that he tries to avoid player work as 'it is labour intensive and players tend to get clingy'.'From a work generating point of view, sorting out sponsorship deals is the most rewarding,' he says.

He has worked on deals for Everton, Aston Villa, and Leicester and secured Pizza Hut's shirt sponsorship of Fulham.The increasing amount of money in football and the technicalities of contracts has led to two clubs employing lawyers in-house.

Ex-Denton Wilde Sapte solicitor Jonathan Waltho is employed by Leicester City - Dentons acts for the Premier League - and West Ham has recently recruited Scott Duxbury as head of legal from Manchester firm James Chapman & Co, where he helped advise Manchester United.'My primary concern is making the football club run like a successful business,' says Mr Waltho, a life-long Leicester fan.

'Football is big business with similar issues to any other commercial company, so I work closely with the chief executive and financial operator to ensure the completion of projects.'His biggest current project is the construction of a 32,000-seater stadium for the club by the beginning of next season.

'I am pretty much a one-man team, but I instruct external lawyers when they are needed for the bigger projects, like the stadium, which will require planning, property and construction lawyers, to name a few,' he says.'Being a fan of the club makes the job immensely satisfying and enjoyable.

I know I can make a difference and will hopefully play a role in keeping Leicester in the Premiership this year.'An issue Leicester has had to deal with this season is that of firing managers, a fast-growing trend in football.'The increasing turnover of managers, highlighted by Derby's sacking of Colin Todd after only three months, is worrying,' says Howard Culley, managing partner of Sheffield-based national firm Irwin Mitchell and former chairman of Sheffield Wednesday.'Sackings can often be messy affairs and give rise to argument over the level of compensation payable,' he says.

'I acted for George Graham when he departed Tottenham and there was a disagreement over whether the club breached the contract by sacking him, or whether by talking to the press about internal matters, he had broken the contract.'The profile of football has never been higher and whether it is being praised or condemned, it seems always to provide enough issues to keep lawyers busy.Many lawyers are also fervent football fans outside work.

Mr Goldberg, an Arsenal supporter, sums up their feelings: 'I love my work, the people I meet and the opportunities it gives me to travel the world watching football.'