2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Proskauer Rose LLP

Proskauer Rose is practically synonymous with “sports law”—clients include Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association. Although flashy, this reputation shortchanges the firm’s incredibly diversified work, which features top-notch corporate, litigation, tax, private client services, entertainment, and labor and employment practices.

From Small Business to Big Business

Firm forefather William R. Rose opened up shop in downtown Manhattan in 1875 at the sprightly age of 21. Rose’s first clients were local retailers, and his skill soon caught the attention of New York’s burgeoning business class, who hired Rose’s firm to represent them in corporate and personal estate matters. The firm’s reputation (and headcount) continued to grow, and by 1907, name partner Benjamin Paskus—a tax specialist—joined the firm. The outfit founded a successful tax practice following the Sixteenth Amendment’s passage in 1913. Joseph Proskauer joined the firm in 1930 and ushered in a new era for the firm. Proskauer’s passion for music forged connections with Carnegie Hall and some of America’s most prominent musicians, including Leonard Bernstein, whose estate is still handled by the firm.

Labor, Layups, and Lead Passes

Proskauer lawyers are leaders in labor and employment, consistently ranking in the top 10 of Vault’s practice area ranking. Among the areas the firm covers are employee benefits and executive compensation, employment counseling, employment litigation and class actions, labor/management relations, non-compete and trade secrets, strategic corporate planning, and whistleblowers. The firm gets its insights into the blog-o-sphere through its Law and the Workplace blog and even has a podcast on employee benefits and executive compensation.

Proskauer is officially the king of media, entertainment, and sports—the firm holds the No. 1 spot in Vault’s Media, Entertainment, & Sports ranking. The firm’s sports law practice began in 1963, thanks to partner George Gallantz, who represented a young organization called the National Basketball Association. Three years later, an attorney named David Stern joined the firm—Stern went on to serve as the NBA’s counsel, executive vice president, and, finally, commissioner (he retired in February 2014). The firm also counts Gary Bettman, commissioner of the National Hockey League, among its notable alumni. The firm’s sports-related experience includes everything from M&A and financing to stadium negotiations and collective bargaining to employment and litigation to IP and licensing—and that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg.

Beyond labor and sports, Proskauer boasts a nationally recognized Private Investment Funds group, as well as litigators who handle cutting-edge intellectual property matters and defend major white collar cases.

You May Have Heard of Them

Proskauer shines across its practice areas. It’s fitting that the firm’s client roster glitters, too. Among the firm’s clients are Ardian, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Tiffany, Neuberger Berman, all of the major sports leagues, Burberry, Barney’s, Coca-Cola, Creative Artists Agency, Church & Dwight, Diageo, Hermès, Hulu, Johnson & Johnson, Sony Pictures, the Broadway League, MoMA, Neiman Marcus, T-Mobile, MetLife, The New York Times, and the New York Stock Exchange.

• Proskauer advised leading global software investor Hg on a recent fundraising totaling US$20 billion across three separate vehicles.
• Proskauer advised Major League Soccer in signing seven-time Ballon d'Or winner and FIFA World Cup champion Lionel Messi to play for Inter Miami.
• Proskauer represented Lexington Partners and Atalaya Capital as investors in connection with the $2 billion sale of private equity and private credit investments by Wells Fargo.
• Proskauer filed a Plan of Adjustment on behalf of Puerto Rico, the first territorial debt restructuring in U.S. history. This critical victory for Puerto Rico helps end its four-year bankruptcy, cut billions in debt, fix its pension system and balance its budget.
• Proskauer secured a landmark defense victory for Sanderson Farms in a $7 Billion antitrust jury trial.

• 87 Practices and 177 Lawyers Ranked—Chambers
• Best Law Firm for Women & Diversity, 2023—Seramount
• 26 Lawyers Recognized as Best in Their Field, 2023—Benchmark Litigation
• Top Firm to Work For, 2023—Law.com’s UK A-List
• “Best Place to Work” for LGBTQ+ Equality for four years in a row—Human Rights Campaign