Alex Haffner

Partner in the Commercial, Sports and IP Team, Fladgate LLP

Alex is a Partner in the Commercial, Sports and IP Team at Fladgate LLP, specialising in the sports, technology and media sectors.

Alex's first involvement in sports related work was as part of the legal team which helped the FA Premier League defend its collective media rights selling arrangements before the UK and EU competition authorities and ultimately negotiated a landmark settlement with the EU Commission in order to end its long running investigations of FAPL.

He has since acted for a number of other rights holders including the England and Wales Cricket Board, Scottish Premier League, the Football League and leading English and Scottish football clubs on issues related to the exploitation of their media rights. Alex represented the Football League in its intervention before the Competition Appeal Tribunal concerning the successful appeal by Sky and FAPL of Ofcom's decision to impose "must wholesale" obligations on Sky Sports. He is also very active on the International market for sports, particularly in China and the Middle East.

Aside from media rights related issues, Alex's practice also includes acting for sports bodies on regulatory matters relating to the grant and enforcement of sanctions on clubs and players, as well as more general issues concerning the interface between UK and EU competition law and sport.

Alex has written extensively for various sports, media and competition law publications and been quoted on many occasions by the national press. He has also appeared on BBC News, Radio 4 and Radio 5 to talk about legal issues affecting the world of sport.