Jeffrey Mishkin, the former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the National Basketball Association, is a member of Phillips ADR’s distinguished panel of neutrals. Before transitioning to a full-time mediation and arbitration practice with Phillips ADR, Mr. Mishkin was the head of the Sports Practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for more than twenty years. He has particular expertise in complex sports-related disputes concerning antitrust, intellectual property, labor, gambling, and a wide range of other business and commercial matters.

As Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the NBA, Mr. Mishkin oversaw every aspect of the NBA’s legal affairs, including all litigation, labor relations, commercial transactions, legislation and enforcement of the league’s intellectual property rights and its anti-drug program, personally trying and arguing the NBA’s most important cases. He was involved in every round of collective bargaining negotiations between the NBA and the union and directed the NBA’s legal effort in its 1998-1999 labor dispute with NBA players.

At Skadden, in addition to representing the NBA, Mr. Mishkin’s practice expanded to include representation of the PGA TOUR, National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, National Collegiate Athletic Association, United States Tennis Association, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Collegiate Licensing Association, Madison Square Garden, New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, Bostin Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, St. Louis Cardinals and many other sports organizations. Mr. Mishkin also represented high-profile athletes, including the then number-one-ranked golfer in the world in a dispute against his former sponsor.

In addition to representing entities and individuals in sports-related disputes, Mr. Mishkin has served as an arbitrator and mediator of disputes involving all aspects of sports law, including business and commercial disputes, employment matters, eligibility issues, and matters involving the interpretation of various sports organizations’ rules. He has served for many years as an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the leading international arbitral forum for sports-related legal issues. In 2022, Mr. Mishkin was appointed as one of eight arbitrators to hear doping disputes in U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sport, and he previously served as Chair of the Arbitration Panel for the 35th American’s Cup. He also has experience mediating disputes involving sports organizations, athletes, and sports agents.

Mr. Mishkin is recognized as one of the most preeminent sports practitioners in the United States and around the world. He has been listed repeatedly for sports law in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America, including being named 2020, 2018 and 2012 New York Sports Law Lawyer of the Year. He also was named as a Global Elite Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal 2023, as a Sports MVP by Law 360 in 2015, as a leading lawyer in The Legal 500 in 2015 and 2016, and as a Power Player in sports law in 2016 by Sports Business Journal. He was named as one of the Most Highly Regarded Individuals by The International Who’s Who of Sports & Entertainment Lawyers 2013 and was included in Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

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