Ex-LeBron James Lawyer Gets Job With NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers

The first general counsel for LeBron James’ entertainment development and production company, Jennifer Lewis, has taken on a similar role for the Los Angeles Clippers.

The NBA’s Clippers hired Lewis during their offseason to fill a position vacated last year by former general counsel Nicole Duckett, who left the team to launch her own consultancy advising elite athletes.

Lewis, who had previously held legal and business affairs roles at the Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., spent nearly two years at SpringHill Entertainment Co. LLC, which takes its name from an apartment complex where James once lived in Akron, Ohio.

The Los Angeles Lakers star formed SpringHill three years ago with his childhood friend and business partner, Maverick Carter. Lewis left SpringHill in late 2021, shortly after Squire Patton Boggs—a legal adviser to James—counseled the company on its sale of a minority stake to several investors.

She most recently spent more than a year as general counsel for Redbud Brands Inc., a startup studio that raised $46 million in 2022 for investments in the consumer goods space. Lewis left Redbud earlier this year.

Neither the Clippers or Lewis responded to requests for comment. The Clippers’ website, her California bar registry, and her LinkedIn profile note her new role.

SpringHill hired Endi Piper, a former general counsel at Complex Media Inc. and head of business affairs for BuzzFeed Inc., which acquired Complex, to succeed Lewis as legal chief last year.

Hardcourt Hires

Other lawyers are also on the move as the new NBA season begins.

The league announced Sept. 29 its addition of Albert Sanders Jr., a former White House counsel in the Obama administration, to be the new head of referee operations. Sanders had worked for Alphabet Inc.’s Google in government affairs and in public policy roles since 2017.

The Phoenix Suns, sold for $4 billion this year to a group that includes former Kirkland & Ellis associate Justin Ishbia, during the offseason recruited attorney Chanelle Manus as manager of strategic operations and compliance. Manus, a sports law specialist, previously worked in basketball operations for the NBA.

Other clubs landing legal talent include:

Oklahoma City Thunder: Anne Marie Burke, most recently a legal and business affairs counsel for the Pac-12, a San Francisco-based collegiate athletic conference under new legal leadership as it looks to survive realignment, this month joined the Thunder as a director of team legal and compliance.

Dallas Mavericks: The Mark Cuban-owned team, no stranger to legal fights, hired Hunton Andrews Kurth associate Faheem Fazili as an associate counsel in September. The move comes after the NBA levied a $750,000 fine against Cuban and the Mavericks last year for deliberately losing games.

Portland Trail Blazers: The team announced in August its hire of a new general counsel in Zandria Conyers, who spent more than a decade at the NCAA, most recently as a deputy general counsel and managing director of legal affairs. Conyers took over from ex-legal chief Benjamin Lauritsen, who left the Trail Blazers to return to Stoel Rives as a partner in Portland, Ore. Nike Inc. billionaire Phil Knight made a $2 billion bid for the Trail Blazers last year but the club’s current ownership has so far rebuffed suitors for the franchise.

Over the summer NBA legend Michael Jordan turned to his longtime outside counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to handle the sale of a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in a deal valuing the team at $3 billion.

The transaction saw Sidley Austin, Katten Muchin Rosenman, King & Spalding, and Latham & Watkins advise an investor group taking control of the Hornets. Jordan still owns part of the club, which hired Cymoril White from Ford & Harrison last season as an associate counsel.