People | Bob Mitchell
Bob is a Partner, head of the firm's Sports Group and a member of the Sponsorship Group.
Bob specialises in all commercial aspects of sports law but has particular experience in providing advice on and negotiating the terms of sponsorship, endorsement and merchandising agreements, as well as participation, promoter and venue agreements.
His experience extends to acting for both significant sports rights owners and large multi-national corporate sponsors of events and teams. Bob has advised on some of the most high profile and significant sports sponsorship deals in recent years including Vodafone's sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, the England cricket team and the McLaren formula one team; Diageo's "Guinness" branded sponsorship of rugby's Premiership and its "Johnnie Walker" branded sponsorship of McLaren; Philip Morris's "Marlboro" branded sponsorship of Ferrari and Samsung's sponsorship of Chelsea FC. In 2006, Bob and the Sports Group were awarded "TMT Team of the Year" by Legal Business for their cutting edge work in the sports sponsorship arena and particularly in conjunction with the grant of mobile telecommunication rights.
In addition, Bob has a wealth of experience in advising leading football and rugby clubs on groundsharing arrangements; has for the past 17 years advised the PGA European Tour on its sport related legal issues including sponsorship, promoter, venue and regulatory matters and together with the firm's Senior Partner, Gerrard Tyrrell, was instrumental in the creation of the Team England Player Partnership for England's cricketers and has acted for the partnership for the last 8 years. He has advised all types of sports-related clients on a comprehensive range of sports law issues in sports ranging from football to greyhound racing, motorsport to boxing and rugby to the Olympic Games.
In Chambers & Partners 2008, Bob is commended by clients for being "a straightforward lawyer who doesn't make a fuss" and "understands how rights work in the sports world."
Bob graduated from Brunel University with an LLB (Hons) and completed his Law Society Finals at the Chester branch of the College of Law. Having trained, qualified and been made a Partner at City/West End firm Keene Marsland, Bob joined Harbottle & Lewis as head of the Sports Group in 1997 and became a Partner in 2000.
Bob is a member of the British Association for Sport and Law.
