The World of In-House Counselling

1. The World of In-House Counselling By: Sophie Mohyuddin, Aan Malahia Chaudhry, Jeevan Hundal & LatifeTekin

3. Thinking About Going In-House?

4. Top 5 In-House FAQS:

6. 5 Tips

13. In-House Counsel in Cosmetics & Fashion

14. The Business of Beauty & Fashion • Lawyers also have the nightmarish job of policing a company's social media presence, which includes commenters who behave like jackasses on Facebook and other platforms. • The lawyers are the ones who do the sometimes years-long research to figure out if a product name, print font, scent or even color are trademarked. • Lawyers also are there to police what claims a product can make. One poor word choice in a product claim can result in a lawsuit.

15. The Business of Beauty & Fashion • While lots of beauty companies have licensing deals with celebs (like Elizabeth Arden's with Britney Spears), the lawyers rarely meet them or get to go to shows. "That's for the marketing people. It's not that glamorous," said a panel member. • The product development and advertising happens really quickly, so there's tons of work to be done at all times. Including checking ads. • Future trends in the beauty industry are going to be "green" issues. Green/natural products are in high demand by consumers, but guidelines are getting stricter, and companies are going to have to adapt their claims, advertising, etc.

16. L’Oreal: The Legal Side

17. L’Oreal: We Didn’t Lighten Beyonce. Honest.

18. L’Oreal: You’re worth it-if you’re white.

19. L’Oreal Sued for Racial Discrimination & Toxic Work Environment

20. L’Oreal: Court Greenlights Class Againstion Against L’Oreal

21. L’Oreal: Suing Drunk Elephant

22. Time For Change: Legal Automation https://legalgateway.co/case-studies/loreal-customer-success-story

26. Nancy Axilron, General Counsel • Oversee litigation worldwide • Oversight of global factory compliance • Employment counseling • Contract negotiation • Oversight of intellectual property

27. LOOK FOR THE ASSET

29. Operation Turnlock

33. In-House Counsel in Professional Sports

34. Why is there a need for in-house in professional sports? • Money • Technology • Growth of businesses in scale • Organizations seeking to reduce expenses by hiring their own experts

35. Roles of in-house counsel • A critical function of the in-house counsel is to serve as a trusted business advisor to the management team. • Six primary focuses within the sports business: • Properties (teams/leagues/events/athletes/universities); • Corporate Participants (advertisers/sponsors); • Venues (arenas/stadiums); • Media (radio/print/TV); • Merchandising (sporting goods/logoed apparel/merchandise/memorabilia); and • Agencies (sports marketing focused on properties/ sports marketing focused on sponsors/ sales promotion/advertising agencies).

36. Roles cont’d • Factors impacting the role of in-house counsel: • Size • Industry where it operates • Provinces/states where it operates • Core legal functions that most in-house lawyers provide for their organizations include: • The review of all organizational contracts, • Oversight of all litigation involving the organization, • Governance and compliance issues, • The drafting and review of any and all policies and procedures, • Intellectual property monitoring and protection. • With the increase of commercial value of sport comes the increasing need for more commercial contracts, regulations and governance, as more is at stake for everyone involved. • When is in-house most counsel effective? • Completely embedded within the very fabric of the organization • Ultimately vested in organization’s success • Afforded the latitude to deal with issues proactively

37. What does it take to become in-house counsel in sports? • “General Counsels in Sports: An Analysis of the Responsibilities, Demographics, and Qualifications,” • Study published in the Arizona State University Sports and Entertainment Law Journal. • First in-depth analysis of the responsibilities, demographics, and qualifications for general counsels of clubs in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL • Researchers created a database of all the general counsels in the four major North American professional sports leagues • Researchers gathered personal and professional data about each general counsel

38. What does it take to become in-house counsel in sports? (cont’d) • Overall Findings: • 1. Prestige matters. • Fifty-two general counsels (49.5%) attended a law school currently ranked in the top 25, and 75 of them (66.4%) previously worked at a law firm of at least 101 attorneys. • 2. Prior experience at a league office or at a major sports law firm helps, but is not essential. • Only 17 general counsels (15.0%) previously worked at a law firm with a substantial sports law practice, and only 10 (8.8%) previously worked at a league office. • 3. The racial and gender diversity of current general counsels is lackingwhen compared with national attorney demographic data. • Only 21 (18.6%) general counsels are female and only 16 (14.1%) are non-white.

39. What does it take to become in-house counsel in sports? (cont’d) • Race/ethnicity: in-house counsels of professional sports clubs are overwhelmingly white (85.8%) • Gender: The vast majority of in-house counsels of men’s professional sports clubs are men (81.4%). • Law school: Law schools ranked in the top 10 made up the highest proportion of law schools attended by in-house counsels (27.6%) • Prior legal experience: A large majority of in-house counsels (88.5%) previously worked in a private law practice. • In-house counsels are not among the most experienced attorneys — 80.5% of all general counsels had 20 years or less of legal experience prior to becoming general counsel. • Important to have worked at a large law firm — 75 general counsels (66.4%) previously worked at a law firm of at least 101 attorneys.

40. Challenges for in-house counsel in professional sports • Demanding • 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week business • Taking time for oneself is more difficult than in private practice • In-house counsel’s successes and failures are in the papers every day with no shortages of opinions from people

41. Intro into the NBA •  The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men's professional basketball league in North America • composed of 30 teams – 1 in Canada  •  Constantly growing 

42. NBA General Counsel - Time Management • Less than ½ of time spent managing team of lawyers • Majority spent as counsel to the commissioner’s office, the basketball operations group, the business operations of the NBA and the  30 teams.

43. NBA General Counsel - Roles • General Counsel are usually prominent individuals in the sport and the legal industry.  • Often have multiple duties at once • General Counsel + Chief Compliance Officer [NBA] • General Counsel + member of  the Senior Management team [NBPA] • General Counsel + VP + Corporate Secretary [MLSE] • General Counsel + VP [Golden State Warriors]

44. NBA General Counsel - Duties

45. NBA teams' General Counsel Duties • "Understand how to best assist his/her colleagues so that negotiations can lead to solid deals and relationships with 3rdparties."  - Frank Pulice of Indiana Pacers  • Act as a “flag person – detouring their clients around risk, not at a stop sign” 

46. NBA Teams' General Counsel – some recent projects • Work on legal matters related to the proposed new sports and entertainment center in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood – David Kelly of Golden State Warrior • Lead the MLSE team on the sale of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan’s majority interest in MLSE to Bell and Rogers Communications Inc. for $1.32B - Robin Brudner of MLSE

47. NBA - Future of In-house Legal Teams • Legal departments of more and more sports organizations continue to grow • More and more CEO and team presidents are learning the value of having a general-counsel on-board.  • General counsels are looking for more prominent roles within the leadership of the organizations. • Bottom line = “the best team presidents and CEO’s know how to use their GC wisely. The best GC’s make things easier for the entire leadership team”

48. NBA - Tips to Law Students wanting to work here • Be the best lawyer you can be in the area you choose + look for opportunities with the NBA after you have learned the profession and excelled in an area of your choice; IP, finance, governance, Mergers & Acquisitions, etc. • There are also ex-lawyers – former general counsel, or a former associate at a firm hired by the NBA legal department

49. Conclusion/Discussion • Continual growth • Potential ethical issues? • Other issues??