Andrew McGregor

Andrew is a Legal Director and Sport Sector - Head of Football at leading independent UK law firm Brabners LLP. Whilst Andrew advises a broad range of sport sector clients, his primary area of expertise revolves around football. He advises governing bodies, clubs, agencies, players and professional advisors on a broad range of non-contentious and contentious issues, and has represented clients before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and other domestic sports arbitration and disciplinary panels.  

1. How did you begin working as a lawyer in the sport sector?  

After playing academy football for Tranmere Rovers FC, I left school at 16 to undertake a scholarship with Morecambe FC. Shortly after, it became apparent to me that I was unlikely to have a career at the highest levels of the game (owing mainly to my lack of ability) so I bounced around some lower league and non-league clubs whilst trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Whilst my initial desire was to be a holiday rep, and study travel and tourism and Spanish, a chance interview with a persuasive careers advisor sent me down an A-Levels path which included law. 
 
I enjoyed studying law and decided to study at degree level, but I was keen to try and learn more about the commercial side of football. I noticed that Nottingham Trent University was one of the few universities offering a sports law module as part of its undergraduate course so I went there. Naturally, my best efforts and work were delivered on the sports law module.
 
After completing my degree and wanting to obtain a training contract with a firm that had a sports law offering, I found it extremely difficult to get training contract interviews, let alone be able to pick the firm I trained with and that would offer me opportunities with its sports law team. DWF was the only national law firm that interviewed me and they offered me a training contract. I’m still very grateful to DWF for the opportunity they gave me.
 
During my training contract with DWF, I started a community-based mens’ amateur football team. I was club secretary and chairman, and my friend and I handled all aspects of administration, regulatory compliance and finance. It was a huge eye opener to what was expected of football clubs, even at Step 7 level, to successfully operate a club. We developed a hugely successful team and had many ex-professional academy players playing for us, including a few lads who had professional contracts. After I qualified, I started helping some of those lads get back into the higher levels of the game and started to use my grass roots experience, and contacts, to build my knowledge and understanding of anything even remotely related to football administration, regulations or law.
 
I qualified at DWF as a commercial litigator but would help out friends and contacts (often pro bono) on any football related matters. I helped agents prepare for the licensing exam, answered transfer related queries and started to really grow my knowledge of the agency regulations and agency market. I then started picking up pieces of contentious work involving agents, agencies and players and found that my understanding of the game, and commercial litigation skillset, helped me advise clients from a different perspective.
 
Once I felt more confident in my ability to do the job (or less likely to draw a negligence claim), I sought an opportunity to help progress my career towards a sports law specialism. The move to Brabners allowed me to work exclusively in the sports market and predominantly in football. I have been lucky to work with some fantastic people at Brabners, including Maurice Watkins CBE, Lydia Edgar and Jason Smith, who trusted me to work with their clients and helped me to grow my own client base.

2. How did you find your time as Interim General Counsel at a Premier League football club?  

Shortly after working closely with a Premier League club client on a number of managerial and football staff related contractual issues, an opportunity arose to help the club out before it recruited its current General Counsel. From March 2019 to July 2019, I worked at the club and provided some interim general counsel support. My role was also supported by the wider sport sector team at Brabners.
 
Whilst I had acted in various capacities for a number of clubs and football agencies in the past (some of which had allowed me to operate more intimately within those businesses), this was my first experience of working inside of a Premier League football club. It was fantastic. I worked closely with the Finance Director, Director of Football and Head of Commercial Partnerships, and would report directly to the CEO. It was a great place to work. I supported the club on a wide spectrum of legal issues which spread across the football and commercial operations at the club. The volume and sheer range of the legal, commercial and regulatory issues which a Premier League club has to deal with will surprise anyone, and it was great to be exposed to some of them during my time there.

3. What would you say the biggest legal developments/issues in football are?  

At the moment, it’s difficult to look past the impact of COVID-19. Clubs, players and agencies have had to adapt and address issues which, in the circumstances, have felt completely new and unique. Just by way of example, the football world has had to: grapple with commercial and football contract relationships in the context of potential force majeure events; continuously review ongoing rights, goods and services provisions; address wide-ranging uncertainty as the regulatory framework adapts and evolves; furlough status; new ways of facilitating dispute resolution; reputation management and health and safety and employment law issues.
 
Going forward, financial regulations and constitutional issues will no doubt become more prominent. The awareness and scope of player duty of care issues continues to grow and equality and diversity issues are rightly receiving more attention. Furthermore, the transfer market and regulation of intermediaries will also be important areas of focus and change, along with the continuing commercialisation and evolution of the market generally. Finally, who can forget how Brexit will be felt across football. There will be plenty happening over the next 12-18 months.

4. Please could you describe the most interesting sports-related case you have worked on?
  
There have been some fascinating and high-profile disputes and projects over the years, such as my interim General Counsel experience. However, the one project which stands out is where, following an unexpected exit of the Chief Executive, we were parachuted in to an EFL Championship club, mid-January transfer window, to support the club on all transfer related activities – from attendance on recruitment meetings, to liaising with agents, players and clubs, to submitting and dealing with written transfer offers, to drafting and negotiating transfer agreements, player contracts, agent related contracts, to concluding deals and even helping with press releases. It was easily one of the busiest and most exciting times of my career.

5. What advice would you give to students and lawyers hoping to break into the sports law industry?  

I can only really give advice based on my own experience. So, following my answer above as to how I ended up working in sports law, it would be:
 1. Start building your knowledge of sports law issues and your network as early as possible. Don’t be shy about volunteering, reading, analysing and writing opinion pieces online to grow your knowledge and reputation.
 2. If you are not lucky enough to train and qualify into a sports law team then don’t give up. Be resilient and entrepreneurial. Work hard to become the best lawyer you can be in a discipline that might be easily transferable into the sports market. Experience of employment, commercial / IP, regulatory and/or litigation will give you a good base ‘toolkit’ to build on.
 3. As you continue to develop your career as a lawyer, also continue to develop your knowledge of sports law issues and your network. Read, write, network and never stop looking for learning and development opportunities. Take chances and think entrepreneurially. Think strategically and try and plan your route, but be willing to adapt and evolve. Above all, be resilient and take positives and learnings from every experience.
 4. Have a laugh along the way and try not to put too much pressure on yourself. Try and enjoy the journey, you will get to where you want to be. 

6. Please could you briefly describe a typical ‘Day in the Life of Andrew McGregor’?  

There should hopefully be enough in the above to get an idea. After looking at emails and dealing with any urgent issues, I like to be in the office between 7:30 and 8am every day, unless I’m working from home or have meetings on the road. Each day, I will inevitably have a number of traditional legal tasks to do, whether that’s advising clients by telephone or in meetings, drafting advice notes or correspondence, negotiating and drafting commercial documents or reviewing and analysing documents. The client work takes priority. Then, around those commitments, we will have internal department and sector meetings and calls, and inevitably have to keep on top of a number of administrative tasks. Squeezed in somewhere will be time for unexpected calls with clients, contacts and colleagues and a bit of marketing and business development. I try to attend a football match at least one evening of the week and like to read sports law articles and news stories wherever and whenever I can. They are intense, and often long, days but they are varied, challenging and exciting. Each day is different.