Thursday, July 23, 2009
Page 3
TroyGould Adds Noted Sports Attorney Don E. N. Gibson as Of Counsel
Dykema Attracts Former Waller Lansden Partner E. Lee Horton as Senior Counsel
By a MetNews Staff Writer
TroyGould yesterday announced that prominent sports attorney Don E. N. Gibson has joined the firm as of counsel.
Gibson is former vice president and general counsel of Major League Baseball Properties Inc.—the licensing and marketing division of Major League Baseball—and was at one time chief operating officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
He will work in TroyGould’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Department, focusing on licensing, corporate partnership and sponsorship arrangements, intellectual property development, management and protection, player contract issues, business organization and league structure and operation, the firm said.
He also will continue in his capacity as president and CEO of Kavi Sports & Entertainment, a consulting firm he founded which provides marketing and business development services to individuals and businesses in the sports and entertainment industries.
Gary Concoff, chairman of TroyGould’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Department, predicted that Gibson’s “established reputation and depth of expertise” will be “invaluable” to the firm as it expands its entertainment, sports and new media practice.
“With the addition of Don, we have an outstanding team of senior, well known and highly regarded attorneys who enhance TroyGould’s reputation in these areas,“ he said.
Gibson praised the firm as “a perfect fit for individuals and businesses in the sports industry,” explaining that “sports clients have many of the same needs as the firm’s clients in other industries, and will greatly benefit from the firm’s vast expertise.”
Prior to joining TroyGould, Gibson was an attorney with Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George LLP, where he was a partner and head of the firm’s Sports Law Practice Group.
He concurrently served as chief operating officer of Dreier Sports Opportunities, a separate, but affiliated, business venture that provided marketing and business development services to athletes, coaches and other individuals, and businesses, in the sports industry.
Marc Dreier, who headed the law firm and the sports venture, was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for swindling investors in a hedge fund. No one else associated with the law firm or Dreier Sports Opportunities has been accused of wrongdoing.
Gibson attended Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and UCLA Law School, and clerked for U.S. District Court Judge David Williams of the Central District of California. He was admitted to the State Bar in 1985.
In other news, the law firm Dykema yesterday announced the addition of E. Lee Horton to its Litigation Practice Group as senior counsel in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
A former partner in the Dispute Resolution Group at Waller Lansden, Horton will continue to counsel clients in dispute resolution law in his new role at Dykema, the firm said.
Rex Schlaybaugh, Dykema’s chairman and chief executive officer, praised Horton’s “impressive track record in high-level, high-stakes, complex and technically oriented litigation,” adding that “[t]he addition of a lawyer with his background and experience will add considerable depth to our already strong litigation team and underscores the firm’s commitment to expand our capabilities in this area.”
A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Horton graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern Law School after earning his undergraduate degree in environmental biology from UCSB. He was admitted to practice in 1973.
Horton also served in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot and was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and 45 Air Medals for his service during the Vietnam War, the firm said. He left active military service with the rank of captain.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company