Leading Sports Attorney and Former New York Jets General Counsel Joins Foley
Foley & Lardner announced today that Andrew Lee, former general counsel to the New York Jets and the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, has joined the firm’s New York office as Of Counsel and Special Adviser to its renowned Sports & Entertainment Group. Lee joins a deep roster of other sports attorneys at Foley who have held high-profile, in-house leadership positions in the sports business, including Bob DuPuy (MLB), Jon Israel (NBA), Michael Wall (Boston Bruins) and Bobby Sharma (NBA, IMG).
Lee comes to Foley with more than 20 years of sports, media and entertainment industry experience in-house and as an outside adviser, with emphasis on counseling senior executive management of high-profile companies. He has extensive experience both as a litigator and a corporate transactional attorney, having handled complex litigation and business matters involving mergers and acquisitions, corporate compliance, nonprofit organizations, sponsorships and naming rights, intellectual property, employment issues, SafeSport investigations and compliance, among others. Lee is routinely recognized as a leader in the sports and entertainment field, having previously founded the firm ALL Counsel P.C., which was consistently ranked in the top-tier nationally by top law firm rating services.
Lee began his legal career in private practice with Proskauer Rose in New York City and then went on to serve on the senior executive management team of the New York Jets as general counsel. In this role, Lee oversaw all of the Jets’ legal and human resources initiatives, along with the organization’s corporate relocation to Florham Park, New Jersey. When the Jets and Giants elected to bid to host the Super Bowl in 2014, Lee was named as general counsel of the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, which overlapped with his founding of ALL Counsel P.C. in 2009, a premier sports and entertainment law firm based in New York City. His clients have included, among others, the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, MetLife Stadium, the New York Jets, the United States Rowing Association, the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, the Miami Dolphins, RSE Ventures, Relevant Sports, Hiltzik Strategies, DKC News and others in the sports, arts, media, entertainment and general business fields.
“With his experience as general counsel for the New York Jets and a senior executive with the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, Andy is a natural fit for Foley’s Sport & Entertainment Group, which is distinctively led by a team of business insiders who have held important positions at major sports, entertainment, and media organizations and companies,” said Jon Israel, co-chair of Foley’s Sports & Entertainment Group. “I’ve known Andy professionally for a long time, through overlapping clients and contacts in the sports business, and over the years, we’ve regularly discussed joining forces. I couldn’t be more excited to see those talks become reality today.”
Lee has been an integral and influential force in various major developments in the sports and entertainment industry. His experience includes being part of the executive teams that formed the joint venture between the NFL’s New York Jets and New York Giants to build a new joint stadium and the resulting development of MetLife Stadium, the successful bid of the New York City region to host the 2014 Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, and the development of the New York Jets Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Andy also has extensive experience successfully representing professional sports agents, players and coaches in arbitrations and a variety of business matters.
“Andy’s experience and reputation within the legal and sports industries are stellar,” said Peter Wang, managing partner of Foley’s New York office. “He’s a highly-regarded legal professional, having prominently positioned his boutique law firm into the top-tier nationally, alongside the long-established, prominent big law firms in the space, including Foley.” “We are building something special and unique, as a pre-eminent major legal services provider to the sports and entertainment industries. Andy is and will be a critical player in what we are doing, and we are thrilled to have him as part of our team, our New York office, and the larger Foley family.”
In addition, Gregory Marino has joined Foley’s Sports & Entertainment Industry Team as a special counsel. Marino also comes to Foley from ALL Counsel P.C., where he provided legal services to clients in the entertainment and media industries, with a particular focus on counseling emerging entertainment properties on corporate governance matters.
About Foley’s Sports & Entertainment Group
Foley’s multidisciplinary Sports & Entertainment Group provides comprehensive, integrated legal counsel on a full range of commercial and regulatory issues facing organizations in the sports and entertainment industries, including professional and college sports organizations, amateur and charitable sports organizations, sports technology companies, fantasy sports and sporting goods manufacturers, and esports companies and investors. Foley’s sports attorneys bring a diverse range of legal disciplines and practical industry experience to counsel clients on a wide range of issues, including investments, acquisitions and financing; sports facility development; antitrust and litigation matters; negotiation of media deals; intellectual property issues; corporate and league governance; and labor and employment matters. Chambers USA, U.S. News – Best Lawyers and The Legal 500 United States have recognized Foley’s Sports & Entertainment Group as one of the top sports practices in the country for more than a decade.
