Gowling’s corporate department chair said the sports industry is growing more ‘opportunity-rich’
Gowling WLG has tapped Jennifer Bishop to head up its sports division, which will be expanding under the seasoned lawyer’s leadership.
Bishop also joins the firm as a partner in its corporate commercial, funds, and private M&A group. Her first day at the firm was Tuesday.
“With significant capital inflows, major international events, and new commercial models, the sports industry is becoming more sophisticated, competitive, and opportunity-rich by the day,” Pam Vermeersch, chair of Gowling's corporate department, said in a statement this week.
“Jennifer’s uniquely integrated perspective across the entire sports landscape, combined with her extensive transactional and strategic advisory experience, will be invaluable to clients looking not only to participate in this rapid growth, but to help shape it,” Vermeersch added.
Bishop joined Gowling after nearly five years at Aird & Berlis LLP, where she co-chaired its M&A group in addition to founding and co-chairing the firm’s sports media and entertainment group. The experience of building out that latter group – and collaborating with other lawyers with the type of expertise critical to a sports practice – was “certainly a highlight” of her time at Aird & Berlis, Bishop tells Canadian Lawyer.
“Having the opportunity to go through that process and collaborate with good partners certainly provided me with a baseline – to use the sports term – to be able to build on as I move into this new world,” Bishop says.
While Gowling’s sports practice is not new, Bishop says the firm is now investing in its growth.
“We’re starting with building a team of people who can support all areas of the sport landscape,” Bishop says. “That includes everything from charities and foundation work, intellectual property work, transactional work, policy work, litigation, and infrastructure.
“The priority will be building a team of people representative of all of the areas that are needed to support the sports industry,” she adds.
Before Aird & Berlis, Bishop spent nearly 18 years as a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. She is the immediate past chair of the board of Tennis Canada, was appointed to the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Ethics and Governance committee in 2022, and holds other leadership roles related to gender equity, sports leadership and governance, and the legal profession.
Bishop says she was attracted to Gowling’s culture and commitment to growing its M&A and sports industry practice areas.
“I am grateful for the tremendous support and commitment that the firm has shown in bringing me [on board], and giving me the opportunity to work with such a great team of people,” she says.
