As increasing amounts of money pours into sport, a growing number of lawyers are following. Bird & Bird's Max Duthie charts the rise of the sports adviser

In 1998, when I first started practising as a sports lawyer, it was still something of a novelty as a career – in the UK at least.

Back then, relatively few law firms worked in sport consistently, with much of the legal work in the sector being done ad hoc by lawyers who were specialists in other areas of the law, servicing the occasional sports client when it was necessary. And at that time there was generally a lot less lawyering done in sport, so the market did not require many sports law specialists.

Now things are different. Legal 500 lists 54 UK firms in its six bands of specialist sports law practices. And while within that group the extent of the specialism will vary, a significant number of them (and most of the 18 firms in the top three bands) have one or more lawyers working exclusively in sport.

And then there are the scores of in-house lawyers working in sports organisations, and a growing band of barristers with sports pedigree.

That's a lot of lawyers. Does sport really need that many lawyers? Might it even suffer as a result of too many lawyers being involved?

Would it not be better if we returned to the romantic practices of yesteryear, when sports television contracts were negotiated in Soho wine bars and scribbled on cognac-stained napkins, with lawyers nowhere to be seen?

Would sport not be in a better place if we still had rule books that were the size of a school fete programme rather than a telephone directory, and governing bodies could ban errant participants summarily after a quick review of the papers without the expense and distraction of lengthy hearings?

Lawyers can certainly cloud the issues from time to time. I have represented clients in disciplinary hearings where there have been 15 or so lawyers involved, acting for various parties, and this has meant the debate has not always been about the central issues – whether X stamped on Y's head or squeezed Z's testicles – but has deviated into more esoteric issues such as whether the proceedings contravene the Irish constitution, or whether the photographic evidence has been fraudulently doctored.

But while there are exceptions where the presence of a lawyer (or several lawyers) has been a hindrance rather than a help, generally the contribution of the sports law community has been a positive one for sport, and the industry benefits greatly from the lawyers that service it.

Money talks

Irrespective of whether or not it is a good thing, the inescapable reason for there being so many lawyers now working in sport is money.

That is not to say that sports lawyers are avaricious: if anything, the opposite is true – there are plenty of areas of the law that are considerably more lucrative if they were just interested in money.

But the money in sport has meant there are many more opportunities now for lawyers to help. That money comes from several sources: sponsors, broadcasters, paying spectators, lotteries and other public sources, and it is spent by governing bodies, event organisers, clubs and individual athletes.

And, as the numbers get bigger, the legal issues that arise have become that much more important.

Those sponsors and broadcasters will not invest their millions (sometimes billions) in sport unless they are certain of the rights they will receive in return. So they need lawyers to negotiate, document and enforce their contracts.

And those governing bodies (typically the owners of the significant rights) know they will generate that level of investment, and attract new participants to their respective sports, only if they can show they are regulating their sports and events properly, maintaining integrity and enhancing the reputation of the sport (a reputation that for many sports is built on shiny, wholesome values of fair play, athletic pursuit, determination and teamwork).

So they too need lawyers to draft comprehensive and water-tight rules and regulations, and help sanction those who breach them by, for example, cheating, doping, injuring or (heaven forbid) using colourful language on Twitter.

The regulatory aspect of sport, which is what keeps me busy, is not like working in the revenue-generating and altogether more cuddly commercial side of sport, where every pound spent on a transactional lawyer will result in, or at least coincide with and be sugar-coated by, the receipt of thousands of pounds of revenue. Regulators are in essence a cost to sport and less straightforward to justify.

When the 2013 Six Nations Championship started earlier this month, it had in place an experienced set of tribunal members and citing commissioners (fresh from a weekend training conference at the end of January) and a brand new set of disciplinary rules.

The costs of putting this together (and specifically the cost of the input from several lawyers) are not insignificant. And yet there is no direct financial return for
the organisers.

But the reason why entities like Six Nations Rugby Limited (SNRL) (the company that runs the championship) make that investment is for the important indirect returns.

If a player in the first match was to be seriously injured as a result of a cynical act of foul play by an opponent, SNRL needs to be sure that opponent is properly disciplined in a fair process that will not be prone to a challenge in the courts.

If he isn't disciplined properly because the regulations are inadequate or unlawful, then the risk is that fans and players will become disillusioned and will turn away from the game and sponsors and broadcasters will have no trouble finding other sports or activities in which to invest.

That probably won't happen overnight, and it probably won't happen as a result of one incident, but it will happen eventually if the regulations continue to fail. Road cycling is an all-too-obvious example of where unchecked cheating (sorry Lance, that is what it is) has caused some sponsors and broadcasters to turn their backs.

So, I don't believe sport has become over-lawyered, and the lawyers who inhabit this niche area of the law are a force for good. But, then, I would say that.

Max Duthie is a partner in the sports group at Bird & Bird and a mediator. He acts for various entities in several sports. This summer he will join the British & Irish Lions tour party to Hong Kong and Australia as the tour's legal officer.