The veteran sports and entertainment attorney Andrew Lee is leaving the firm Foley & Lardner to return to the New York Jets and resume his role heading the team's legal department.

Lee confirmed the move to Law.com.

He will begin his new role with the Jets as chief legal officer on October 14.

Lee served as the Jets general counsel from 2005 to 2009. He is replacing Jill Kelley, who stepped down from as the team's top lawyer in July after four years in the role.

Lee's reunion with the Jets comes as the NFL strives to expand its international media-rights deals. The NFL's annual revenue has swelled to about $20 billion, and Commissioner Roger Goodell aims to reach $25 billion by 2027.

The league is also seeking a candidate to succeed its longtime General Counsel Jeff Pash, who has been in the NFL's legal department since 1997.

In 2020, Lee joined Foley's New York office as special adviser to the firm's sports and entertainment group, whose other attorneys share Lee's in-house experience with major professional sports teams, including Michael Wall, who served with the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins, and former National Basketball Association assistant general counsel Jon Israel.

From 2011 to 2014 Lee was general counsel to the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, the group responsible for organizing Super Bowl XLVIII, held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. That game, in 2020, was notable because it was first NFL championship played outdoors in a cold-weather city. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos 43-8 in that year's Super Bowl.

Between 2009 and 2020 he founded and managed the practice ALL Counsel, primarily serving as outside counsel to clients in sports and entertainment.

Lee received his bachelor's degree in justice from American University in 1994 and received his law degree from Fordham University three years later.

Prior to joining the Jets, he was an attorney for eight years at New York-based Proskauer Rose, where he handled a number of legal matters for the team and became familiar with people in the organization.