Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Overview

Founded in 1925, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP is a full-service business law firm with more than 260 lawyers, 50 paralegals, and 500 employees in its seven offices located in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio; Tampa and Sarasota, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina, and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Select Experience

Shumaker brings a multidisciplinary approach to our clients in the Sports and Entertainment Industry. We have a highly talented bench of seasoned lawyers with expertise across the full spectrum of laws and regulations that impact our clients, both “institutional” and “talent” alike. Beyond our legal skills, our firm culture involves taking the time to get to know our clients—to understand their background, their history, what’s important to them and why, and what they want to accomplish, whether it be in the context of navigating a career move, resolving a dispute, defending or completing a workplace investigation, seeking guidance in managing a “crisis,” or creating an estate plan. No matter the situation, it is always our goal to provide practical advice and sensible solutions.

Our Sports and Entertainment Industry team represents a diverse group of coaches and athletic directors at NCAA member institutions, professional franchise coaches, and other sports figures and entertainers. We collaborate with clients and their agents, accountants, and financial and other key advisors to create comprehensive career and financial plans. After identifying the strategies that can help clients achieve their goals, we work to ensure they are properly implemented.

Through our multidisciplinary approach, we regularly counsel clients on issues involving contract and commercial law, immigration, civil litigation, labor and employment, deferred compensation and employee benefit plans, business organizations and transactions, real estate, federal and state taxation, public law, estate planning and probate, intellectual property, and charitable tax-exempt organizations.

In our Title IX practice specifically, we advise clients on any and all issues arising under Title IX, including those that touch on gender equity in athletics and harassment. In this space, our team has vast experience defending coaches and other institutional employees in Title IX matters involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, or abuse; and have served in an investigatory roles at the institution level. We also have significant experience providing general Title IX and Title IX investigations training to coaching staffs and other institution officials.

Our team also includes lawyers with extensive knowledge in the growing practice of NCAA name, image, and likeness (NLI) issues, and our firm’s immigration law experts regularly secure visas and Green Cards for coaches, entertainers and other professionals.

Lastly, we have extensive experience representing public and private owners of arenas, ballparks, museums, and theatre venues in matters such as taxable and tax-exempt financing, team leases of facilities, structuring of public-private joint ventures, federal and state tax issues, naming rights agreements, public bidding, and employment and immigration issues.

Our Clients

• Professional athletes and other entertainers

• Football, basketball, hockey, and baseball head and assistant coaches in college programs nationwide

• Coaches of professional sports franchises

• College and university athletic directors

• Other college and university staff, including marching band directors

• Conference commissioners

• Athletic conferences

• Educational institutions and athletic departments

• Public and private owners of arena, ballpark, museums, and theater venues

Our Services

• Negotiation, drafting, and review of employment agreements

• Structuring current and deferred compensation packages, including value-added compensation strategies to reward key staff and assistant coaches

• Negotiation, drafting, and review of licensing, endorsement, marketing, and publishing agreements

• Advice regarding legal aspects of the organization and operation of summer sports camps as well as other commercial and business endeavors

• Advice regarding rights of privacy and publicity

• Advice and protection related to branding and intangible assets, including the evaluation, registration, and maintenance of trademarks and copyrights and the enforcement and defense of related rights

• Personal and family estate and income tax planning

• Charitable/philanthropic activities, including formation and operation of private family foundations

• Due diligence and structuring in connection with our clients’ participation in outside business ventures and investments

• Advocacy and representation in disputes or investigations

• Title IX athletic compliance

• Comprehensive training programs, including diversity training, for coaches and administrators

• Defense of internal and external complaints, investigations, and other employment-related issues

• Immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for athletes, entertainers, and other industry professionals

• Assisting public and private owners of arena, ballpark, and theater venues with tax-exempt financing, team leases of facilities, structuring of public-private joint ventures, federal and state tax issues, naming rights agreements, and public bidding issues