AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME: BLACK PROFESSIONAL SPORTS GENERAL COUNSEL

By David Moreno, Partner, Brown Rudnick

AN EXPANDING ROLE

Some general counsel in professional sports have leveraged their range of skills into broader leadership roles such as general manager. Some general counsel have seen their roles grow and expand on the business side. An even smaller group has leveraged these experiences into seats on public and private boards.

Social justice has been adopted by many professional sports players worldwide; teams and leagues are being asked to be more accountable. Sports fans and the public expect more now from their teams. What role do Black general counsel need to play in this?

NFTs are an increasing source of monetization for both teams and their fans. How will general counsel in sports take more of an active role on decision making around innovations like these?

Such developments will be discussed in the Black General

Chapter. All general counsel pictured are founding members of this group.

In 2018, Black In House Counsel Network (BIHC) launched the Black General Counsel Roundtable. That group now includes more than 60 general counsels at companies worth $3 billion or more in revenue. Now BIHC is launching a network of Black general counsel in the highest ranks of the professional sports community –

This network is intended to create a space where complex and unique issues pertaining to professional sports are discussed, and creative and proactive solutions are developed. The community is designed to offer its members opportunities to enhance their professional development through a series of quarterly roundtables with a network of supportive peers.

David Moreno

New York-born, Washington DC-raised Liza Craig, is a partner, the Firm’s Deputy Chair for Diversity Equity and Inclusion and a member of Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory Enforcement Group. She was inspired to practice law by her father’s impressive legal career which involved both federal and private sector service. Liza began her career by clerking for a judge at the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and spent nearly 15 years working for the Department of the Navy prior to joining the Firm. She taps ESG and cybersecurity trends as those to watch, particularly regarding the way the procurement function impacts them. “We’re part of a global community and businesses need to ensure that they have the proper governance structures in place to meet the needs of their stakeholders and protect the critical information that they possess from those seeking to exploit technological vulnerabilities in this rapidly evolving space.”

When asked what sets Reed Smith apart, Tyree Jones, chair of its Global Labor and Employment Group and member of the firm’s Executive Committee and ESG practice, points to its core values of excellence, impact inclusion, and teamwork. “We operate with one partnership across our global platform as collaboratively as possible to deliver the best client service we can.”

Growing up during the civil rights movement in a communityminded family led to Jones’ interest in law, government and public policy. He describes his practice as civil rights-related employment law with a focus on claims of discrimination, and on developing policies that help ensure DEI principles. He sees key trends for 2022 as being issues of pay equity under the umbrella of ESG, and the ways employers will adjust to the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

Terence Hawley, partner and diversity chair for the San Francisco market, focuses his practice on consumer class action defense and complex business disputes, which he anticipates will continue to be an active area in 2022. “I’m expecting significant class action filings focusing on pandemic-related issues, privacy and cybersecurity, and false advertising, among other fields,” he says.

His long career with Reed Smith has taught him to appreciate the firm’s broad platform in terms of subject matter expertise and geographic reach. He praises the “collaborative culture among professionals within that platform to facilitate the delivery of top-tier legal services and develop long-term client relationships.”

“What differentiates Reed Smith? Steadfast commitment to our core values of integrity, excellence, teamwork and respect, innovation and impact. These values permeate everything we do as a firm and are the very foundation of our strategic plan. It is through integrity, excellence and innovation that we drive superior, equitable and authentic results for ourselves and our clients; through teamwork and respect that we build inclusive teams across our entire platform that prize our differences and excel in working together to drive success for our clients; and through impact that we strive to not only deliver on behalf of our clients and ourselves, but also support and advance the communities where we operate around the world.” – Chauncey M. Lane, Partner

Chauncey Lane, Dallas-based partner, finds the greatest enjoyment in helping clients solve complex issues that affect their bottom line: “Having clients trust that I can deliver for them on a range of issues while staying focused on the overall business imperative is at the heart of my practice.”

He predicts 2022 will see increased deal activity as companies re-examine strategies adopted during the economic slowdown, “resulting in strategic acquisitions and divestitures after redirecting management resources and funds into those parts of the business with the highest growth potential.” He adds that financial buyers are racing to take advantage of favorable market conditions before the inevitable correction occurs or there is an implementation of fiscal policies by a new presidential administration.

LEADING WHILE BLACK IS DIFFERENT. This is explored in the Executive Leadership section: what are the unique challenges faced by Black leaders? Too often, Black people find not only that getting on the ladder to leadership is more difficult, but that when they do succeed, they are then held to different standards than their white peers. How do successful Black leaders navigate these issues? While legal leadership in a general counsel or chief legal officer role might be considered the pinnacle of achievement by many lawyers, more general counsel are finding that their skills are opening the door to other executive titles. Black lawyers who have transitioned to leadership outside of legal positions share what really matters when doing so. In the wake of racial reckoning triggered by the death of George Floyd, diversity in corporate America became a hot topic. A growing number of Black lawyers are now being tapped for board director roles. Given that boards have been traditionally averse to having lawyers in their numbers, what has changed? And will this trend continue – or even accelerate – given the increasing focus of shareholders and some regulators on board diversity? One initiative aiming to ensure that Black talent is primed to take advantage of these opportunities is the Santa Clara University Black Corporate Board Readiness Program. One of its founders is Barry Lawson Williams, a retired corporate executive who has become an advocate for increasing Black representation at board level. Williams shares what it really takes to get on to a corporate board and how more Black leaders can do so. When it comes to leadership, the most visible role of all must surely be that of leading the country. President Biden’s cabinet has been lauded as one of the most diverse ever, so we take this opportunity to profile those Black lawyers who have stepped into cabinet and subcabinet level positions, both leading and serving.