Yasin Patel comments on the development of in-house legal teams by sports clubs, in City AM

Yasin Patel has provided comment in City AM on the growing interest across sports clubs in building larger in-house legal teams, highlighting that the complex nature of disputes will be challenging to handle unless clubs utilise both in-house and external counsel.

Discussing Wrexham Football Club’s attempts to encourage growth in its internal legal team in particular, Yasin noted: “Wrexham’s paralegal internship programme adds to the trend of building in-house legal teams. Giving such opportunities to young aspiring lawyers is certainly to be applauded, and developing specialist sports law teams is also admirable given how the industry is evolving. However, given that sports clubs deal with a multitude of legal matters, including transfers, employment, commercial contracts, media deals as well as many other legal contentious issues, legal interns must be provided with proper support and advice. It remains to be seen whether clubs and teams will effectively handle such a plethora of matters through large legal teams, or whether instructing specialist firms is a more successful route.”

Yasin further commented: “Sports law is an ever-growing area of law, and some clubs make more money from commercial activities away from football or their primary sport. It is therefore paramount that clubs take on legal expertise to advise them on issues that arise – they will either need deep pockets to instruct expensive solicitors and barristers, or they can grow in-house legal teams that deal with legal arguments at a fraction of the cost, and leave more complicated legal issues to external counsel.”

Yasin’s comments were published in City AM, both online and in print, 9 April 2026.