Dreier LLP Launches Sports Marketing and Consulting Firm

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May. 14 /PRNewswire/ --

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Dreier LLP announced today that it has formed an affiliated sports marketing and consulting firm, Dreier Sports Opportunities Group LLC (Dreier Sports Opportunities), to complement its sports law practice. Former Major League Baseball executive and attorney Don Gibson will head the firm.

Dreier Sports Opportunities, which will be a separate business unit based in Santa Monica, Calif., will assist athletes and their agents, as well as sports-related businesses, in developing and marketing their products, services and images. Dreier Sports Opportunities will provide services such as: preparation of business plans and licensing concepts; advice regarding the development, management and exploitation of intellectual property assets; assistance in identifying and developing new business opportunities; acquisition of third-party licensing rights; cultivation of sponsorships and other co-branding opportunities, and marketing.

Mr. Gibson, formerly General Counsel and Senior Vice President/Acting President for Major League Baseball Properties Inc., and Chief Operating Officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, will serve as COO of Dreier Sports Opportunities.

"The launch of Dreier Sports Opportunities will enable Dreier LLP to realize its goal of offering both comprehensive legal and business advice to the sports community," stated Marc S. Dreier, founder and managing partner of Dreier LLP and founder of Dreier Sports Opportunities. "Sports is a rapidly growing business that presents a wealth of opportunities worldwide. Don's entrepreneurial background and executive experience in major sports organizations will play a crucial role in the development of this exciting new venture."

Mr. Gibson, who is also a partner in the Sports Law Practice at Dreier LLP's Los Angeles affiliate Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George LLP, brings more than 15 years experience in senior leadership positions in the sports industry to Dreier Sports Opportunities. He has extensive experience in licensing, corporate partnership arrangements (including sponsorships), intellectual property asset development, management and protection, and league structure and operation.

"The entrepreneurial business model of Dreier LLP allows for the development of exciting sports-related opportunities which we believe will be highly attractive to clients," Mr. Gibson stated. "This venture will break new ground. Such an alliance between a premier law firm and a sports marketing group, to our knowledge, has not existed before."

While serving as General Counsel for Major League Baseball Properties Inc., Mr. Gibson developed and implemented aggressive measures to counter infringement and counterfeiting of MLB trademarks and other intellectual property worldwide. As Senior Vice President and Acting President of Major League Baseball Properties, Mr. Gibson helped grow the division into a $3 billion business. Mr. Gibson was also Chief Operating Officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and founder of his own sports management agency, XL Sports.

About Don Gibson

Mr. Gibson was an Associate with Stein & Kahan, a predecessor firm to Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George LLP, when he left to become Associate Counsel in the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1989. He was subsequently promoted to Vice President and General Counsel of Major League Baseball Properties Inc. ("MLBP"), Major League Baseball's licensing and marketing division. He developed and implemented aggressive measures to counter infringement and counterfeiting of MLB trademarks and other intellectual property worldwide, including establishing the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports logos ("CAPS") (an association of all major professional sports leagues and various colleges) which worked with federal and state law enforcement agencies to combat infringement and counterfeiting. CAPS' anti-counterfeiting activities resulted in seizures of merchandise and equipment valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

As Senior Vice President and Acting President of Major League Baseball Properties, Gibson helped grow the division into a $3 billion business. After more than eight years with Major League Baseball, Mr. Gibson became Chief Operating Officer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., where he was responsible for management of the new $103 million Hall of Fame/Riverfront development project and for implementing key brand development and marketing opportunities. After leaving the Basketball Hall of Fame in Fall, 2000, Mr. Gibson founded his own sports management agency, XL Sports, and subsequently became a co-founder of Section 1, which produces sports and entertainment-related products.

Mr. Gibson received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bucknell University and a Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law, where he served on the Law Review Staff and as Chief Comments Editor. He served as Law Clerk to United States Senior District Court Judge David W. Williams in the Central District of California and as a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School. Mr. Gibson is a member of the California State Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Background on Dreier LLP

Dreier LLP was founded in 1996 by Marc Dreier as a more responsive and innovative alternative to traditional "large-firm" lawyering. Dreier LLP represents a wide range of institutional, entrepreneurial and individual clients in diverse sectors of financial, industrial and service-oriented markets. The firm's principal practices are commercial litigation, real estate, bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, employment, corporate and securities, entertainment, intellectual property, matrimonial and tax. Dreier LLP's Los Angeles affiliate, Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George LLP, has its principal practice in entertainment and commercial litigation and corporate transactions. The firm's New York affiliate Schlesinger Gannon & Lazetera LLP has an extensive practice in the area of trusts and estates law. Pitta & Dreier LLP is an affiliate which specializes in labor law, and Pitta, Bishop, Del Giorno & Dreier LLP specializes in government relations. In the 12 years since its founding, Dreier LLP, with its affiliate members, has grown to more than 200 attorneys, with its principal office at 499 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and additional offices in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California; Albany, New York; Stamford, Connecticut; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.