News

Man City sign Blackstone super silk who charges rumoured £5k an hour to defend Premier League claim

By on
14

Mega-wealthy club call on services of Lord Pannick (again)

Lord Pannick KC

Manchester City FC has called on Blackstone Chambers barrister Lord Pannick KC to defend more than 100 charges brought against the club by the Premier League.

It has been widely speculated in the media the super silk charges around £5,000 an hour, but has reportedly been known to request up to £10,000 for his legal expertise.

The Premier League yesterday charged one of the world’s wealthiest clubs with 115 alleged breaches of its financial fair play rules over a nine-year period, from 2009 to 2018. The rules make sure that clubs only spend what they earn and a potential breach could result in anywhere from a points deduction to relegation from the top flight, dependent on what an independent commission decides.

City has since issued a statement welcoming the commission’s review and insisted they have “irrefutable evidence” to disprove the claims.

The 2023 Legal Cheek Chambers Most List

Pannick is set to defend the club, who won the last two Premier League seasons, for a third time. He represented City when they overturned a Champions League ban imposed by UEFA in 2020, and then the following year when they challenged the Premier League’s right to access documents and information in a case that went to the High Court.

His Blackstone chamber-mate Adam Lewis KC, meanwhile, is expected to represent the Premier League in this latest case.

Oxford-educated Pannick is highly regarded as one of the best barristers of his generation. The public law expert previously advised Boris Johnson on the ‘Partygate’ inquiry and acted against the government in the Supreme Court case over the prorogation of parliament.

For all the latest commercial awareness info, news and careers advice:

Sign up to the Legal Cheek Newsletter

14 Comments

Anonymous

This is a drop in the ocean compared to what City’s law firm will charge. 3 partners at £1,000 -£1,500 per hour plus 10 assistants at £300 -£750 per hour. There is no dazzling advocacy or jurisprudence (unlike Brexit and Exit) and nothing constitutional to panic about and no real need for Pannick.

(29)(3)

Archibald Pomp O'City

Oh, I see what you did there.

Very droll.

(2)(2)

Anonymous

Any law firms involved?

(6)(0)

Interested citizen

The Lawyer reported that Bird & Bird are (definitely?) acting for the Prem. And Clifford Chance’s Chris Yates is thought to be acting for the club as he represented them before the Court of Appeal but that isn’t confirmed yet!

(22)(1)

Interested citizen

Now confirmed that Clifford Chance and Lord Pannick KC are for the club – exciting line up!

(7)(7)

Anon

If this is your idea of exciting I highly recommend going out more.

(53)(7)

Interested Citizen Advocate

Yes, how dare he/she be enthusiastic about the profession in which he/she works.

FF Sake

this is so wet

(4)(2)

Stinging

So are your DryNites!

Free market, innit?

If he charges this amount of money and clients still come for his advice then good for him.

(5)(0)

Notts County Manager

Just like Lord Pannick, we are looking forward to meeting Manchester City in the Conference soon.

(20)(1)

Boomer

When did Norris from Coronation Street become a barrister?

(14)(0)

Ms. Chuckles

I peed slightly laughing at this!

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

(3)(1)

Topg

What a beg

(0)(5)

Comments are closed.

Related Stories