Nick Humphreys

Nick Humphreys is a Partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper. Based in London, Nick is a specialist in employment law and his work often sees him advising clients in the sports industry. For example, he has represented several Premier League football managers in arbitration proceedings against their previous clubs. Nick has been highlighted as a “key lawyer” in Penningtons Manches Cooper’s Sport team.[1]

1. How did you first start working as a lawyer in sport?  

I got very lucky. At one of the previous firms that I worked at, the then Head of Employment, the excellent Mike Morrison, had acted for many of the greats in football and football management. In particular, Mike was the go-to lawyer for the League Managers Association (“LMA”). Mike and I got on well. Eventually, Mike moved in house at the LMA and I left the firm, but kept in touch with Mike (and still do). At a lunch with Mike after I had left, Mike asked if I would like to help the LMA occasionally in relation to manager arbitrations. The rest is history.  

2. What do you think makes employment law in sport unique, compared to other sectors?   

A lot of sports work is required to be dealt with privately, and in the field of disputes, through private arbitration, so the public does not get to hear about it. However, with employment law, due to the general restriction on contracting out of statutory employment rights, it is not generally possible to restrict an employee’s right to present statutory employment law claims in the Employment Tribunal. This means that, occasionally, there is the possibility of a big news sports story being litigated in public with all the attendant interest that brings.  

3. Please can you describe a sports matter that you have worked on in the past?  

Prior to the scope of FA Rule K arbitration being clarified, one of the claims I litigated in public was for Nigel Gibbs against Leeds United. Nigel was the Assistant Manager at the time of Massimo Cellino’s takeover at Leeds and was constructively dismissed by being removed from working with the First Team. The case took place in the High Court and we had the fabulous Sean Jones KC acting for Nigel. We won on every single point in the litigation (including all of the interim applications), recovered every penny in the Schedule of Loss for Nigel and were awarded indemnity costs for Nigel. It was a great result for a genuinely decent client. The case also now clarifies the purpose of fixed term contracts for football managers.   

4. Do you have any predictions for the future of employment law in sport? 

I think there is probably going to be litigation that will happen in relation to the highly emotive arena of trans rights. I can see that a discrimination case will be taken arguing either for or against the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sport.   

5. What is your proudest professional achievement to date? 

Being able to work with the excellent lawyers that I get to deal with, both within Penningtons Manches Cooper, and externally in the form of Counsel.  

6. What is the best piece of career advice that you have been given?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.   

7. What advice would you give to aspiring sports lawyers?

It’s an incredibly difficult area to get into and falling into it (as I did) almost rarely ever happens. Try and go to a firm that has a reputation for sport and be aware that a lot of other people want what you do. Remember that you are being recruited as a lawyer first and foremost, and so you have to demonstrate that you are good at that, so whilst being good at a particular sport might be helpful, that is not why the firm will be recruiting you. Finally, keep in the faces of those that do sports work, but do not get up their noses.   

8. Please can you describe a typical day in your life?  

I get up at around 05.30 - my wife is a keen horse rider and there is usually stuff to be done with the horses before 07.00. I will then check the emails that have come in overnight (I act for a number of large international businesses with offices all over the world), and read up on the news. Depending on whether I am working from home or in London, I will then either go for a 5k walk or catch the train in to London. Train time is used for either preparing notes for work or research for articles. Walking is to wake me up. Time in London is heavily interspersed with marketing meetings - in addition to sport, I do a lot of work in another niche area, international employment, with an emphasis on aviation and maritime work, and there are a lot of sub-disciplines in that area. 

Work at home is mostly spent working on client matters. If a pleading or statement is being drafted, this can be days (or in some cases, weeks) of work at a time.
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I will typically finish around 18.45. If I am at home, I will then either do a gym or Wattbike (the best piece of fitness kit ever) session for 90 minutes before dinner. If in London, there are often marketing events in the evening - you have to stay networked, and then catch the train home, dealing with any emails that have come in. And that’s it for the day.

[1] https://www.legal500.com/c/london/tmt-technology-media-and-telecoms/sport/