Peter D G McCormick OBE > McCormicks > Harrogate, England > Lawyer Profile

Peter D G McCormick OBE

01423 530630 p.mccormick@mccormicks-solicitors.com View profile View profile View profile

Work Department

Corporate/commercial (including sports law, media/entertainment and intellectual property); dispute resolution; charities; agriculture and estates

Position

Peter McCormick is the Senior Partner at McCormicks. He is an internationally recognised expert in Sports and Media and Entertainment Law. He is described by “Business Insider” Magazine as one of the “corporate elite” of Yorkshire and ranked as one of the most powerful business figures in the region.

Regarded as one of the top sports lawyers in the UK, Peter is best known as the Chairman of the Legal Advisory Group of the Premier League and Chairman of the League’s Football Board, both Executive positions. In August 2015, he was unanimously elected by the 20 Clubs of the League to be the League’s nominated Director of the Football Association (F.A.), a member of the F.A. Council and Chairman of the Professional Game Board of the F.A. Prior to these appointments, he was Chairman of the Premier League 2014/15.

Peter now holds a number of significant appointments at the F.A., including:

Board member, representing the Premier League; Member of the F.A. Group Remuneration Committee;  and Chairman of the Panel of International Ambassadors, representing England at matches away from Wembley.

He is also a member of the Football Regulatory Authority (elected by the Premier League and the Professional Game Board of the F.A.), which performs the Regulatory, Disciplinary and Rule-making functions of the F.A.; the F.A. Challenge Cup Committee and the F.A. Council Membership and Appointments Committee.

In November 2020, he was appointed Chairman of the F.A., serving a term ending on 3 January 2022. On 13 January 2022, he was elected Chairman of the Premier League for the second time.

In July 2016 he was appointed Chairman of FA Premier League Medical Care Scheme Ltd, a private health insurance scheme operated for the benefit of the 92 Premier League and EFL Clubs.

Peter Chairs Tribunals and Appeals for the League, Football Association and Professional Game Match Officials Ltd. He is Chairman of the Premier League Stadium Fund Ltd, a Trustee of the Football Foundation (the UK’s largest sporting charity) and a Chairman of Sport Resolutions (UK). He is also an experienced Arbitrator and Mediator.

He advises businesses, organisations and individuals on Corporate and Commercial, Commercial Litigation, Media and Entertainment, Regulatory and Disciplinary, Defamation and Reputation Management issues.

Peter is also a leading national figure in Charities Law. He advises charity clients on a local and regional basis and also national charities, including The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and The Outward Bound Trust. He is Chairman of the Yorkshire Young Achievers Foundation, Chairman of War Memorials Trust and a Trustee of the Helen Feather Memorial Trust and several other charities. He is also Chairman of the Fundraising Support Group for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Northern Garden at Harlow Carr, Harrogate.

He was awarded the OBE for services to charity on 1 January 2000. He was awarded the Order of Mercy, in July 2016, by the League of Mercy Foundation, for outstanding voluntary service.

Peter was voted the inaugural Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year and Niche Practice Lawyer of the Year by the Yorkshire Law Societies.

He was the inaugural Chairman of Visit Harrogate, the Destination Management Organisation for business and leisure tourism in the Harrogate district, one of the largest in the country.

In 2008, Peter received the Lifetime Achievement in Business Award at the Ackrill Media Group Business Awards.

Career

Founded McCormicks 1983.

Languages

French.

Education

King’s College, London (1973 LLB Hons); president of the Law Society; chairman of Entertainments; College of Law, Chester (Honours with distinctions in Revenue and Commercial Law).