Legal Updates
BLYTHE LIGGINS LAUNCHES ‘SPORTS LAW’ DEPARTMENT
08/04/2010
Leamington law firm Blythe Liggins has launched a new ‘sports law’ department to look after the legal interests of a host of sporting individuals, teams and organisations.
The firm, whose sports clients range from international rugby players and Olympic horsemen to women golfers and disabled riders, is keen to expand into this niche market.
Joint senior partner Richard Thornton, a keen cricketer and tennis player, said: “We have considerable depth of expertise in sports law and will now be offering that specialist knowledge to other individuals, teams and organisations involved in sport – both locally, nationally and internationally.”
The new department was officially launched by Andy Gray, director of the British Association for Sport and Law, who addressed a gathering of sporting personalities at the firm’s offices in Rugby Road, Leamington.
Joint senior partner David Lester said: “Sports law is an extremely specialist area and we believe we have all the necessary credentials to cement ourselves further as a major player. As a firm we have a lot to offer the sporting world, not least because we stand out by employing solicitors who have an active knowledge of sports – including three lawyers who have competed at national level.”
They are Richard Moon, head of employment law, who is a former Cambridge rugby blue and England international scrum-half who played for the Barbarians; Jacqui Fulton, head of equine law, who competes at the top level in dressage and is The Petplan 2009 Medium Open National Champion; and Ruth MacCarthy, still only 24, who is one of Great Britain’s rising hopes for dressage in the 2012 Paralympics.
Blythe Liggins is well known in equestrian circles, with clients including British Eventing and Riding for the Disabled Association.
Richard Moon, who heads the new department, is an RFU committee member and a past chairman of the RFU Disciplinary Panel in the Midlands. He has represented a number of international players, including England Rugby World Cup winner Andy Gormersall, Welsh internationals Dwaine Peel, Wayne Proctor and Stephen Jones, and Scottish internationals Eric Peters, Budge Poutney and Simon Holmes.
As well as looking after players’ interests, the firm has also acted for sports coaches, including David Collins, the former performance director of UK Athletics; Paul Sergeant OBE, the former chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union’s Millennium Stadium; and Robbie McBryde, the Welsh Rugby Union ‘forwards coach’ and former Wales and British Lions hooker who was caretaker head coach on Wales’ tour of North America last year.
The firm recently won the contract to handle the legal requirements of The English Women’s Golf Association, which represents over 115,000 women and girl golfers. Its chief executive Jim Robinson said: “We are based in Edgbaston and wanted to work with a local firm. We were impressed with the calibre of Blythe Liggins and their sporting and corporate clients.”
The firm also has an interest in motor sports through Peter Lockley, a partner and car rally enthusiast who has been chairman of the Standard Motor Club for almost 20 years.
CAPTION: (L-R) Blythe Liggins senior partners David Lester and Richard Thornton, legendary cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad, who turned professional at 13 years old and went on to captain Pakistan and Northamptonshire, Andy Gray, director of the British Association for Sport and Law, and Blythe Liggins partner Richard Moon, former Cambridge rugby blue and England and Barbarians scrum half who is head of both the employment law department and the new sports law unit.