Alana Matthews dreamed of becoming a lawyer for a professional hockey team when she went to law school at SMU. Jason Cohen loved law, sports and business and focused his law school training on jobs where those interests intersected.
They wrote law school papers on major sports cases in the courts and took internships that they hoped would better position themselves to secure their future dream jobs. It worked.
Matthews is now general counsel of the Dallas Stars and Cohen is GC of the Dallas Cowboys.
“It helps that I am passionate about the law and hockey,” Matthews told The Texas Lawbook in an interview last year. “Persistence is the key. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the gig I have now so early in my legal career. It has been a whirlwind and a blessing to work with the Dallas Stars organization. I have my dream job.”
Cohen, who was a former senior lawyer for NASCAR, said he also has his ideal job, but he said the position is much more than just talking sports and involves real legal work.
“Just this morning, I negotiated a series of contracts to lease a couple dozen porta potties,” Cohen, laughing, told The Texas Lawbookin 2016.
Every two years, The Texas Lawbook and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter host an exclusive CLE event featuring the top lawyers for the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, Texas Motor Speedway and Hunts Sports Group, which owns FC Dallas and the Kansas City Chiefs. The CLE offers Lawbook readers unique access to these general counsel.
This year’s program is next Tuesday, Oct. 9, starting at 5 p.m. Texas Lawbook readers from across Texas are welcome to attend. More details at the end of this article.
The GC positions for professional sports teams in Texas are obviously limited. And there have been some changes in the landscape.
Three months ago, Mark Cuban hired Sekou Lewis to be the new general counsel of the Dallas Mavericks. In September 2016, the Texas Rangers brought Katie Pothier on board as its chief legal officer. Both will be panelists at next week’s CLE.
Lewis, a former college and international pro-basketball player, was the head of the sports law practice at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in Philadelphia. Prior to Lewis’ arrival, legal issues for the Mavs fell under the purview of Robert Hart, who is executive vice president and chief legal officer for Mark Cuban Companies.
Pothier was the general counsel for the San Diego Padres and also a partner at Wilson Turner Cosmo in San Diego. She is playing a significant role in the building of the new indoor ballpark in Arlington.
The Pro Sports GCs tell great insider stories about themselves, their jobs and the owners they work with and for.
Two years ago, for example, Cowboys GC Jason Cohen told the audience about his final job interview with owner Jerry Jones. The boss had one final question.
“You are a Cowboys fan, aren’t you?” Jones asked.
“I thought, ‘Oh crap!’ And everything was going so well,” Cohen said. “If I told him the truth, that’s not a good answer and this job opportunity is gone. If I lied to him, that’s a terrible way to start and I knew he would see right through it.”
The corporate lawyer took another approach.
“Mr. Jones, if I am selected to be your general counsel, I’m going to need to be in a position where I tell you the truth and tell you things you don’t want to hear and not sugarcoat anything,” Cohen told Jones that summer day in 2013. “So, we should start off on the right foot. I’m a huge New York Giants fan.”
Jones nodded patiently and then he abruptly pointed to the trophy case in his office and his three Super Bowl rings.
“Jerry reminded me that he had more rings and more trophies than the Giants had
and that he would be getting more in the future than the Giants would,” Cohen said.
Robert Hart told the CLE audience in 2016 about a frantic call he received in 2002 from his 78-year-old mother in Rhode Island.
“Are you okay? Do you still have a job?” she inquired.
Confused, Hart asked his mom what she was talking about.
“I just saw on the news that Mark is now working at Dairy Queen,” she said. “What happened?”
Hart assured his mom that his boss, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, was working at Dairy Queen – not because he had lost all his money – but for publicity reasons.
“My job is safe, mom,” he said. “And Mark is doing okay, too.”
Publisher’s note: The Pro Sports GCs CLE starts at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at the new Sewell BMW of Grapevine near DFW Airport. The 90-minute CLE is followed by a one-hour reception where you can meet the GCs. The CLE is co-hosted by the DFW Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and Sewell BMW. Admission is $60. Texas Lawbook Premium subscribers pay $30 and ACC-DFW members are free. Please RSVP to sally.selio@texaslawbook.net.