On May 11, Nona Lee, senior vice president & general counsel of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will join several other panelists at the Sports Lawyers Association conference for a discussion about the current legal issues that confront professional sports franchises.
Even though she is only entering her ninth season with the team, Lee’s perspective will be embraced by everyone within earshot. That’s because Lee has established a reputation as a general counsel who takes nothing for granted, bringing an inquisitive approach to a job that requires a lawyer to be a jack of all trades.
That reputation made Lee, who worked for Meyer Hendricks and Gallagher & Kennedy, before joining the Diamondbacks, a compelling choice for an interview by PSL Contributing Editor Rahat Huq, which follows:
Huq: When did you know that you wanted to practice sports law?
Lee: I realized it when the WNBA started here in Phoenix. I started out practicing as a litigator in Phoenix in 1995, and I had been litigating for about four years before the WNBA started. I asked the firm I was with at that time if I could start a sports law practice and they weren’t inclined, so I interviewed with the firms that represented the Diamondbacks and the Suns and I got an offer from the firm that represents the Diamondbacks still to start over as a transactional associate because that’s what I understood I needed to do to really get into sports law on the team side. About a week after they made and I accepted the offer, they advised me that the general counsel for the Suns was leaving and asked me if I wanted to interview for the position and helped set me up with the interview process and took me into the firm while I was going through that process. I did not get the general counsel job with the Suns but they created an associate general counsel position and I started working for them as associate general counsel. I was there for about five years, at first as associate general counsel and then as VP associate general counsel, until I had the opportunity to come down here with the Diamondbacks.
Huq: How is your role with the Diamondbacks different from your previous role with the Suns?
Lee: Actually, it’s very similar, except for now in the general counsel position I do more in terms of supporting the executive team and working on higher level deals than I used to when I was with the Suns as an associate general counsel so that’s really the difference. I do work a bit more with the baseball operations people here than I did at that time with the basketball operations people and that is probably a function more of my role in the company: associate general counsel vs. general counsel. Now, I’m not deeply involved in the personnel side of it because our baseball operations staff is very proficient at that – they negotiate the deals. I work with them on some guarantee language and other issues as needed.
Huq: When they finalize player contracts, do they have you review those terms?
Lee: I generally only get involved if they need assistance negotiating the guarantee language. Otherwise, it is pretty cut and dry. There’s not a lot to do – it is boilerplate and if they don’t have a lot of pushback on some of the guarantee language negotiations, I don’t really need to get involved.
Huq: What was the name of the firm at which you practiced prior to your
involvement with the Suns and Diamondbacks?
Lee: I was with Meyer Hendricks for four years and Gallagher & Kennedy for two months before I went in-house with the Suns.
Huq: What were your roles with those firms?
Lee: With Meyer Hendricks, I was a civil litigation associate and my practice was primarily commercial litigation and personal injury with an emphasis on medical malpractice and wrongful death claims and when I left there, I went to Gallagher & Kennedy to start over as a transactional associate with a view towards getting into sports. While I was there going through the interview process with the Suns, I was working with a corporate partner and with a securities partner.
Huq: What would you advise attorneys who want to make the transition over to sports?
Lee: A transactional practice is probably the most important part of it because it’s easily 80 to 90% of what we do. It’s not so much securities because we’re not publicly traded, so that’s not really been an issue. I suppose some of that is handy with respect to ownership transfers but really just transactional practice. You need to know how to draft contracts, review, and analyze.
Huq: Who are some of the firms that serve as outside counsel for the Diamondbacks?
Lee: Our primary outside counsel still is Gallager & Kennedy.
