Jeffrey Kessler Featured in Lawdragon’s Lawyer Limelight

Jeffrey Kessler was profiled in Lawdragon’s Lawyer Limelight on February 5, 2017. In the feature, he discusses his career in sports and antitrust law. He also addresses his role, as Lawdragon states, “in revolutionizing the rights of athletes.”

Mr. Kessler, who serves as chair of Winston & Strawn’s Antitrust/Competition Practice, developed an interest in competition while at Columbia Law School. He was particularly taken with the notion that you can create social change through the law—specifically the law of competition.

“In a lot of these [sports antitrust] cases we are trying to create precedents that will protect players in general so that even the last player on the bench cannot be disadvantaged or exploited by the leagues. It’s very much a group mentality in terms of what we’re trying to achieve in many of these player cases,” he said.

Referencing his current work on behalf of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, the women are engaged in a legal battle for equal pay for equal work primarily because they are trying to send a message and establish a precedent for women not just in sports, but for women in the workplace generally. “This case, like many of my sports cases, is very much connected to a larger issue than just the individuals who are involved,” he explains.

Bringing competition principles to the area of sports is what Mr. Kessler sees as the lasting impact of his sports work.

As he explains: “History has proved that the more courts have applied antitrust principles to the multi-billion dollar sports business, the more those sports have benefitted, the more players have done better, the more teams and fans and sponsors have done better. Everyone has done better as a result of competition.”