Travis Leach Managing Director of Athlete Management Professionals

Travis Leach Managing Director of Athlete Management Professionals is interviewed by LBN host Scott Drake.

The new Snell and Wilmer subsidiary will offer a variety of services to professional athletes.

Snell & Wilmer has announced the opening of their new sports agency, Athlete Management Professionals LLC, as reported by the National Law Journal on March 8. Snell & Wilmer corporate and finance attorney Travis Leach will run the spin off agency; Leach represented clients in the sports industry before taking on this new role. Leach will run the agency with five other attorneys from the firm.

It is a full service agency that handles a variety of matters for sports industry clients including contract negotiations, marketing and endorsements. The agency has ten clients including Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey porter, Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Eddie Gamboa and Zach Sunderland, who held the title last year briefly as the youngest person (17) to sail around the world alone.

Snell & Wilmer decided to spin the sports agency off from the rest of the firm rather than making it a practice to follow ethics rules governing legal marketing, according to Leach. The agency and firm will maintain a close relationship as clients may be referred to the firm at large for matters like estate planning, intellectual property concerns, litigation and nonprofit foundations.

Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is Phoenix based  firm with approximately 450 attorneys and 8 offices throughout the United States.