FFW newly appointed by Sport England
28 June 2005
Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has been appointed as legal
adviser to Sport England following a competitive tender process.
The initial term of the appointment is two years. FFW will advise
Sport England on its on-going activities as a distributor of
Lottery and Exchequer funds and in relation to its own
constitutional, contractual and human resources issues.
Sport England is an organisation committed to encouraging people
to get involved with sport and physical activity, creating
opportunities for people to start in sport, stay in sport and
succeed in sport. It began operating under Royal Charter in
January 1997 and is a non-departmental public body. It provides the
strategic lead for sport in England and is responsible for
delivering the Government’s sporting objectives. Sport England
distributes funding and invests in a range of sporting projects,
including the Active England fund. It influences decision makers
and public opinion on sport.
Sport England will be serviced by a wide-ranging team of FFW
specialists led by Patrick Cannon (Head of FFW’s Sports Business
Group), partner Tim Davies (contract/commercial), partner Richard
Kenyon (employment and diversity), partner Graeme Nuttall
(constitutional) and partner Matthew Lohn (regulatory).
This is an important appointment for FFW, which has spent four
years developing a fully-integrated sports practice. The firm
has been involved in the sports sector for many years and given the
firm’s prominence in both the public and private sectors is pleased
to be working in partnership with Sport England. FFW’s
ability to provide expertise in all of the legal areas required by
sports clients, particularly corporate and commercial, regulation,
brand protection and commercialisation, advertising and sponsorship
and technology arrangements represented the blend of skills that
Sport England was seeking..
Sport England joins the RFU and the Jockey Club, as another
recent high-profile sports client. The firm has also been
advising Malaysian multinational PETRONAS for the last 3 years on
all aspects of the launch of both the PETRONAS Superbike and the
Foggy PETRONAS Racing Team.
Patrick says:
“Over the past four years we have been developing an extensive
knowledge bank of experience within this sector from all angles by
advising sports bodies and regulators, clubs such as Luton Town FC
and London Irish RFC; brand owners such as Dunlop Slazenger; and
agencies such as IMG and Key Sports & Entertainment. We
now feel in a strong position to challenge the more established
names in the sector.”
For further press information, please contact:
Ben Girdlestone, Communications Manager, on +44 (0)20
7861 4968
Louise Eckersley, PR Executive, on +44 (0)20 7861 4120