Resnick Sports is a Division of the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. Sports and entertainment are multibillion-dollar enterprises that require business judgment and legal skills to support unique creative endeavors. The Firm has represented over 80 current and former professional athletes from the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Sports law is an umbrella term used to describe the legal issues at work in the world of both amateur and professional sports. Sports law overlaps substantially with labor law, contract law, competition or antitrust law, and tort law. Issues like wealth preservation, defamation and privacy rights are also an integral aspect of sports law.
Resnick Sports views making a living as an athlete or entertainer as a business. At Resnick Sports we protect our clients and ensure that they understand the legal aspects of the business relationships they enter into with agents, teams, sponsors, production companies, book publishers, managers, music clubs and record companies.
Resnick Sports' lawyers work closely with firm-wide colleagues practicing in corporate, intellectual property, criminal, wealth preservation, labor, public finance, construction, hospitality and real estate law to tailor solutions to clients' specific concerns. The Firm work closely with their clients and their respective agents, financial advisors and business managers to help ensure their clients are fully protected and have legal representation 24 hours a day 365 days a week. The Firm has locations in Florida and in New York, and is able to represent athletes throughout the country.
The attorneys at the Firm honed their experiences at the top law firms in the United States, and provide athletes with weekly consolations, as well as comprehensive legal representation in all areas of the law including but not limited to contract work, business disputes, real estate, criminal defense, estate planning (wills, trusts, and estates), asset preservation/protection planning, tax controversies and all forms of transactional law.
Monthly Retainer Services for Legal Representation
The Firm charges its clients a small monthly fee retainer which provides its clients with around the clock legal representation and consultations, and significantly reduced hourly rates and flat fees for additional work that may be necessary in its representation of its clients.
Additional Services
The Firm has extensive relationships across the Country and internationally thought its affiliated companies, clients and contacts to provide additional benefits to its clients. The Firm constantly provides its clients with additional opportunities to support the image, well being and financial security of its clients. The Firm's contacts permit its clients access to numerous events, social, cultural, charitable, and political, which allow its clients to further their careers and in some instances derive additional financial benefits.
24 Hour Personal Assistant and Concierge Service
The Firm provides its athletes with access to a 24 hour personal assistant and concierge as part of their representation. This service provides the Firm's athlete clients access to hotels, events, parties, car services and traditional VIP concierge services.
Our understanding of pro sports, and our commitment to innovation, integrity, and advocacy has proven effective in protecting our clients. Our sports practice group is available to represent athletes in all sports, including but not limited to, the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, USTA and MLS.
Exemplar of Services for Athletes: Estate & Asset Protection Planning – Summary
One of the main areas of our Firm's practice is estate and asset protection planning. This will summarize the foregoing practice area and discuss typical services provided to athletes who are represented by the Firm. Please note that the information provided herein is solely for discussion and shall not be relied upon by any party as legal advice from the Firm. Please further note that this is only intended to briefly summarize “or scratch the surface” of the area of practice related to estate and asset protection planning.
Basic Estate Plan. A basic estate plan would consist of the advice related to and the preparation of a last will and testament, a revocable living trust, a durable power of attorney, a medical health care directive and a living will. A last will and testament is a legal instrument by which one sets forth in writing his or her desire for the administration of his or her affairs upon death. A revocable living trust is a legal instrument by which one sets forth in writing his or her desire for not only the administration of his or her affairs upon death but also during one's lifetime, thereby planning for a potential incapacity situation and setting forth the procedure to avoid court involvement of one's affairs upon death, as a trust is not subject to court administration or “probate.” A durable power of attorney is for financial purposes and is a legal instrument used to appoint one or more individuals to act on one's behalf for a “laundry-list” of financial and business purposes if said person becomes unable to do so based on an incapacity situation or otherwise. A medical health care directive is a legal instrument used to appoint one or more individuals to act on one's behalf to make all medical decisions if said person becomes unable to do so based on an incapacity situation or otherwise. A living will is a legal instrument used, if so desired, to indicate whether one desires to remain artificially or indefinitely alive when one is suffering from a terminal or end stage condition or is in a persistent vegetative state. There are many other legal instruments that can be utilized to form part of one's basic estate plan, such as but not limited to a preneed guardian, a limited power of attorney, a declaration of domicile, etc. Most documentation compromising a basic estate plan will ensure that one's affairs are properly administered and that the heirs of one's “estate” receive their inheritance, but falls short in its overall effect on one's potential federal and/or state estate tax savings if one's estate is subject to said estate tax, other than to ensure that all appropriate estate tax credits and exemptions are maximized to minimize the estate tax payable upon one's death.
Estate Tax Planning. In addition to one's basic estate planning documentation, the Firm provides more advanced documentation to further reduce the effect of the federal and/or state estate tax upon one's death. Some documentation such as an irrevocable trust to own one's life insurance policies (commonly referred to as an “ILIT”) and a grantor retained annuity trust (commonly referred to as a “GRAT”) would remove certain assets or value from being subject to estate tax ,whereas some documentation such as the creation and use of business entities would take advantage of potential methods to discount the value of one's assets subject to estate tax (commonly referred to as a “family limited partnership” or “FLP”). Of course, there are many types of documents and methods by which to minimize, reduce and, in limited circumstances, eliminate the estate tax and by which to remove or discount one's assets from being subject to the estate tax and gift taxes.
Asset Protection Planning. In addition to one's basic and advanced estate planning documentation, the Firm provides services to protect one's assets, as best as possible, from the claims of creditors, including spouses. It goes without saying that we live in a litigious society and that not only can a legal judgment be costly and devastating but so can the legal fees related to litigation. Some documentation is basic in nature (such as the preparation and use of entities such as limited liability companies and partnerships to own certain assets) and some documentation is much more advanced (such as the preparation and use of domestic and/or foreign discretionary spendthrift asset protection trusts). Some of the basic documentation, if implemented properly, should protect one's principal assets from the claims and judgments of future unforeseen creditors, and some of the more advanced documentation, if implemented properly, should protect one's principal assets as well as the income derived there from the claims and judgments of future unforeseen creditors. The level and extent of one's asset protection planning will vary based on the nature and extent of one's assets, and is custom tailored to one's specific needs.
Marital Planning. In addition to the foregoing, the Firm provides clients with a premarital agreement (“prenup”) or a post marital agreement (“postnup”). Such agreements mix concepts of estate planning and asset protection planning. We custom tailor such agreements to meet one's specific needs.