Case StudyProfessional Sports OrganizationEmployment Audit

The Front Office
Was Running On

Different Paper.

A professional front office with employment paper from four different templates across hires made under three prior general counsels, inconsistent restrictive covenants, and one departing executive testing the seams. We standardized the paper and closed the seams.

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ClientProfessional Sports Organization
ScopeFront-Office Employment Paper
EngagementFull Audit + Interim General Counsel
CoordinationLeague Office Compliance Review
This study is a composite drawn from the types of matters the firm handles. Names, locations, and identifying details are illustrative and do not depict any single client.
The Situation

Four Templates.
Three GCs.

One Exiting Executive.

Deferred compensation and severance sat in inconsistent formats. Two director-level agreements referenced defined terms that no longer existed in the current handbook. A departing executive had begun testing the enforceability of a non-solicit provision that had been dropped from later hires, and the league office was preparing to review the organization's compliance posture.

Interim general counsel was seated with a defined scope.

The Work · One Template, Mapped Against Every Existing Hire
Our Approach

Audit Every Hire.
Standardize The Template.

Close The Seam.

We ran a full employment paper audit across the front office. We pulled every current agreement, mapped it against a single template we drafted for the organization, and identified every material gap by role level. We built a rollout plan tied to natural review cycles (year-end review, promotion, role change) so no employee was asked to countersign under duress.

On the departing executive, we scoped the enforceable perimeter of the non-solicit as written, coordinated with the league office on the disclosure posture, and structured a wind-down that protected trade-secret and player-file confidentiality without over-reaching on enforceability.

On the compliance side, we synchronized the handbook, the offer letter, and the equity or bonus paper so future hires arrived under one framework.

The Outcome · By The Numbers
4
Employment Templates Found Across The Front Office
3
Prior General Counsels' Paper Reconciled Into One
2
Director-Level Agreements Citing Defunct Handbook Terms
1
Departing Executive's Non-Solicit Scoped And Resolved
0
Forced Re-Signings · All Rollout Tied To Natural Cycles
1
Standardized Template Now Governing All New Hires

"Different eras had left us different paper. Brandon put us on one."

— Interim General Counsel, Professional Sports Organization
Why It Matters

A New General Counsel
Rarely Rewrites

The Last One's Paper.

Front offices change general counsel more often than they change employment templates. Each transition leaves behind paper that made sense under whoever wrote it, and nobody circles back to reconcile it against what came before, until a departing executive or a league compliance review forces the question.

A rollout plan tied to natural review cycles avoids the appearance of forcing employees to sign new restrictions under pressure, which is exactly the posture that invites a legal challenge in the first place.

We run employment paper audits and standardize the template for professional sports organizations, and we structure the rollout so a fix does not create the same disruption it is meant to prevent.

The Resolution · One Framework, League Review Ready

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