Chris is a high-profile sports lawyer from IPS Law firm in Hale, Altrincham UK. He represents a large number of well-known clients including Tyson Fury. He advises leading Premier League and Football League Clubs, leading sporting and media agents and a number of high-profile sporting individuals on a wide variety of matters. His practice areas including Sports, Media & Entertainment. He specialises in image rights, third party ownership issues, player transfers, intellectual property contracts, contract re-negotiations, sponsorship and endorsement contracts, defamation, sports dispute resolution, footballer and agent disputes, doping hearings, regulatory issues, and both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law.
For those interested in the world of sports law, Chris provides his insights online. Chris Farnell also takes the time to share information and his views on sports law online. On Twitter, through the IPS law page, he regularly posts these tweets e.g.
‘An implied term of any employment contract is mutual trust and confidence. Clubs signing up to the Super League (despite a later withdrawal) in breach of football regulations is certainly a breach of this implied term, amounting to repudiatory breach.’
‘HMRC have issued new guidance relating to the payment of intermediaries by dual representation. The industry standard split of 50:50 will no longer be accepted. Get in touch with us to see how we can assist you in relation to the new requirements.’
‘Some Premier league clubs are under investigation for the signing of foreign players under the age of 18. FIFA will not let this drop in light of the current mood.’
He came under scruiting for his involvement in Charlton Athletic. Former Charlton director and solicitor Chris Farnell has been cleared for football club ownership by the EFL in 2020. At the time, they ended their involvement with him, which was said to pave the way for Paul Elliot’s takeover.
When he was involved with Swansea, he was accused by former director Steve Penny, who wanted to profit from the sale of the club, of ‘bullying and intimidation” during a board meeting. In court, the judge found that these claims by Steve Penny were unsupported.
With the Ukraine war and the impact, it is having on football, specifically Chelsea, it is clear that law and sports will continue to be related. What knock on effects this will have for the game remains to be seen, however we all support Ukraine and their people and hope this war ends quickly soon.
