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 represented the Patrick D. Bowlen Trust and related entities in the $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos, the largest team sale in NFL history. 
• Proskauer advised leading global software investor Hg on a recent fundraising totaling $11 billion across three separate vehicles.
• Proskauer represented Miramax in a first-in-kind lawsuit filed against director Quentin Tarantino relating to intellectual property infringement in connection with Tarantino’s offering of NFTs. 
• Represented hospitality giant Accor on a series of transformative joint ventures integrating hospitality and lifestyle, including combining 17 brands in more than 30 countries under the Ennismore flag, and the launch of Accor’s global strategic partnership with the Faena Group. 
• For well over a decade, Proskauer has been working to protect voters’ rights with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights on its Election Protection Program. Election protection is a nationwide, non-partisan effort to ensure that every American can exercise their right to vote.

• 88 Top-Tier Practices and 175 Lawyers Ranked—Chambers
• Named a top firm for culture—Yale Law Women
• Dealmaker of the Year for Proskauer’s leading role in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy restructuring—ALM 
• Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality—Human Rights Campaign
• Finalist in three categories—Private Equity Team of the Year, Funds Team of the Year, and Finance Team of the Year—The Lawyer Awards (U.K.)