Winston & Strawn Named Law360 Sports Group of the Year

Winston & Strawn was awarded Law360’s 2015 Sports Group of the Year for scoring “an unprecedented string of victories” in 2015, including several disputes that have “really changed the entire legal landscape regarding the review of NFL commissioner discipline,” according to practice Co-chair Jeffrey Kessler.

A number of the practice’s highlights from 2015 include wins on behalf of high-profile players like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in marquee matters that involved challenges to league actions. 

“We really have an experience curve that virtually no one else in the country has,” added Mr. Kessler. “We have been doing this for decades, representing essentially everybody who has a legal dispute with the established leagues.”

Beyond its experience in representing players and various professional players associations, the practice also represents leagues in conflicts with each other, according to David Feher, who also co-chairs the practice. Currently the group is representing the North American Soccer League in its dispute with the U.S. Soccer Federation over alleged antitrust violations.

“[Our] knowledge and experience goes beyond just looking at things from one angle,” Mr. Feher said.

In addition to professional sports matters, the group was involved in a number of landmark litigations in the high school and collegiate levels, including the Jenkins v. NCAA suit in which Winston is representing a class of Division I college football and basketball athletes as they challenge the limits that the NCAA can impose on schools and conferences in deciding how they wish to compensate the players for the huge amount of revenues they generate. 

“We think that is a very important case moving forward,” said Mr. Kessler.

The group continues to take on precedent-setting, challenging cases in the sports arena, building a foundation from which to tackle its next set of complicated disputes.

“We’ve had one case after another and they sort of build on one another,” said David Greenspan, co-chair of the firm’s college sports subpractice group.   

Learn more about the firm’s Sports Practice. 

Read Law360’s Sports Group of the Year profile.