For a combined 25 years Simon Leaf and Tom Murray have worked at the cutting edge of sports law, advising clients including England footballer Marcus Rashford, Formula 1 driver Alex Albon, TikTok and the Saudi Sports Ministry for Mishcon de Reya.
This week they have officially launched their own practice, Three Points Law, formed in the belief that they can offer a more tailored – and affordable – service as a boutique firm in an industry that Murray believes is “super-primed for disruption”.
“The way the market is going, the pressure on our rates and the way that we want to lawyer, it was just becoming quite difficult to service the clients in the way that we wanted to when working in those environments,” says Leaf, former head of sport at Mishcon.
“The kind of work that we do, there’s less need to be in a big city firm, and the clients can receive a much better service at a more reasonable price when you’re a bit more nimble and agile and not constrained by some of the issues that will crop up in larger organisations.”
Many of those big-name clients have retained them and Murray adds: “It reflects how people’s expectations have changed. A lawyer used to give black letter legal advice and say ‘this is my interpretation of the law’. Now you are advisors and the law is one element of that.
“The clients who we’re lucky enough to continue working with, we’ve spent years getting to know them, the way they like legal advice to be provided. Most don’t want huge, lengthy emails of analysis; they want a voice note saying what the right thing to do is in a particular situation or they want you to be available at 10:30pm.”
While the Three Points name is a nod to their sports background, it also reflects that the pair have a trio of specialisms – including commercial and technology law – and a commitment to simplifying their advice into three key pillars.
Leaf and Murray are drawing on the breadth of their expertise not only to advise clients on commercial and tech matters as well as sport but also by leveraging AI legal platform Legora to streamline some tasks and keep a lid on fees.
Sports law ‘like hotel industry before Airbnb’
“The tasks which are most likely to be replaced by AI are the ones which cost a lot, and are fairly formulaic or logical. Law is prime for that,” says Murray. “It feels like the hotel industry before Airbnb and there’s a real opportunity for disruption for firms like Three Points Law.”
Adds Leaf: “Unfortunately, many other law firms talk a good game when it comes to using technology but their teams and lawyers are still heavily targeted by the number of hours they put down on a file, rather than how well they service a client or the outcome.
“For us, it’s completely different. We’re doing this so that we can invest in relationships with our clients and deliver to them an expert service using technology at a more reasonable price.”
Leaf and Murray have had front-row seats for an explosion in sports law that has seen legal matters – whether the Premier League rulebook, multi-billion-pound deals or European competition law – make headlines like never before.
It has seen them counsel footballers through the discovery of life-threatening health conditions and draft contracts for some of boxing’s biggest fights. It has also, they believe, given Three Points a good shot at making its own mark in the industry.
“When I started there were probably only a handful of firms regularly doing this kind of work. I think in reality there are still probably a dozen or so firms that can genuinely call themselves experts in this area.
“You’ve still got a lot of people that want to be involved, because it’s seen as being a sexy area of law, but who don’t necessarily have the kind of skills and expertise to be able to deliver the really complex projects and cases that we’ve acted on over the years.
“A lot of the clients we have worked with for years. You never know when you’re moving to a new shop whether people are definitely going to come with you but so far it’s been a really humbling experience to see clients come with us.”